The fastest sprint, the highest jump, the last-second goal, the big wins, the changing-room dances, the sweat, the commitment, the endurance, the highs, the lows, the strength. With England one of the favourites for the football and netball world cups this summer, we celebrate the women changing the face of sport.
In March, the England women's football team won the SheBelieves Cup in America for the first time. They celebrated by singing Three Lions in the changing room. But 31-year-old captain Steph Houghton, from Durham, has her eye on a different trophy as the team heads into this summer’s FIFA Women's World Cup in France. Steph, who first led England at age 26, says this is will be the summer of sport: 'The more games that are on TV obviously helps. I feel like it not only inspires girls but boys, too. We need to keep challenging that perception so more people come and watch.'
Fran Kirby's (left) football skills have always stopped people in their tracks. When she was younger, growing up in Reading, she would play in the street with her brother and people would stop to compliment her. Now, playing for both Chelsea and England, she's one of the world's top players and has earned the nickname 'Mini Messi' in reference to the Barcelona striker Lionel. 'It’s a massive compliment, but I’m my own person. For the other girls, I want to be Fran Kirby.' And when it comes to all those amazing goals? 'Every time I score, I celebrate like the kid I was playing in the park.'
Leah’s first sport wasn't football, but gymnastics: 'I did it for medical reasons. I walked pigeon-toed, so it was recommended to improve my posture.' Her coach, a huge football fan, would get the gymnasts playing after training sessions and Leah (left), now 22, was sold – and she's never looked back. An Arsenal supporter all her life, Leah now plays for them in the Women's Super League, as well as for England, where she takes her role as team DJ seriously: 'I like the feeling of putting on a song and seeing everyone go crazy.' Hot on the playlist is 'anything old school, like Freed From Desire, or anything by the Spice Girls'.
Jordan Nobbs (right), 26, made headlines earlier this year when England manager Phil Neville announced she would still be part of World Cup preparations, despite a knee injury. She’s also becoming a pundit: 'The more people get used to seeing women footballers in the media, the more they’ll think of it as normal.' Jordan has played for Arsenal since 2010, and feels part of a bigger snowball effect that she says will 'create this big bang for women in sport… It's an exciting time for us. We're being seen as beautiful, powerful women. And yes, we perform on the pitch and we get gritty, but we're role models'.
It's been a big year for the Roses: they won the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, won BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year, signed NIKE as their biggest sponsor yet and are ranked second in the world. 'We're a team with strong female athletes, and we're thriving,' says captain Serena Guthrie, 29 (right). She would describe her game style as 'controlled aggression… it's something that hasn't been identified much in women's sports before. Netball has an element of excitement now when you watch it: it isn't just people being nice to each other, it's two teams going out there, doing what they can to win, and that does involve some aggression'.
Before the England netball team (the Roses) played at the Commonwealth Games, you could often hear Wham!'s Club Tropicana coming from the changing rooms. 'We love that song so much,' says Jodie (far left), who also studies sports science at Worcester University. But when she's in charge of the music? 'I always go with Drake.' The fun doesn’t just stay in the changing room: 'We take it onto the court,' says the 26-year-old. To switch off, she watches Keeping Up with the Kardashians: 'It’s important to have a break from netball. I'm my biggest critic, always thinking about how I can improve.' And if Kim K came to see the match this summer? 'I’d love that!'
When the youngest member of the team, Georgina Fisher (left), was growing up in Hatfield, she would say to friends that she wanted to be a professional netball player. In response, people would tell her netball was never going to be a thing. 'And here I am, actually doing it right now,' she says. Currently age 20 and studying sports science at the University of Hertfordshire alongside her netball career, Georgina credits sport for giving her confidence: 'Playing sport has taught me to be myself. Sometimes you walk into a situation where you feel like you can't be yourself, but I don't care. I just go in and I’m me.'
When does the joint-fastest woman in the world feel at her strongest? 'When I’m ready to go into the stadium, because that’s when you know you're about to do your business,' says London-born Dina. In 2018, the 23-year-old equalled the world's quickest time for the 100m sprint, and became the fastest in the world for the 200m. This, just over a year after she'd broken her foot. For most people, an injury like this would mean game over. Not for Dina, whose love for racing is what keeps her wanting more: 'I love adrenaline. I love tension. At the start of the race when everything's so tense, it's all eyes on you, and you've got absolutely nowhere to hide – that's what I love.' See Dina’s cover interview on page 84.
KJT, as she's known to teammates, is famously indecisive. The 26-year-old Liverpudlian even says so in her Twitter bio: 'Chronically indecisive so I’ve adopted two surnames & the heptathlon.' It seems to be serving her well – she won gold in the heptathlon at the 2O18 Commonwealth Games and picked up another gold, this time in the pentathlon, at the European Championships in March this year. Katarina may have been the fastest girl in school, but she still faced criticism. 'I'm so happy that today being strong is seen as being feminine. I used to be embarrassed because a lad once said to me, "Your calves are massive." It made me want to give up and not seem so strong,' she recalls. 'Now I see my body as an amazing tool.'
As a psychology student at Loughborough University alongside her athletics career, Morgan, 22, has found some useful techniques to help her make high jump history: 'Things such as visualisation, and seeing how the brain activates are really powerful.' Getting the crowd involved is another huge boost: 'I prefer competing in big stadiums, the energy makes you jump higher.' It worked at the Rio Olympics in 2016, where she became the first British woman to reach a high jump final since 1992, and last year she won silver at the Commonwealth Games. But the real key to her success might be breakfast: 'If I skip it, my mind is foggy all day. In the winter I always have porridge with peanut butter, or poached eggs and avocado on toast.'
Last year, Sophie, 22, became the first female track and field athlete to win the grand slam – a gold in all four major competitions. 'I'd love to do it again. I always work hard, and hopefully the more you work, the more you win.' Sophie, who has cerebral palsy, was inspired to get into athletics aged 15 after seeing the success of London's 2012 Paralympics: 'It was my brother who saw a talent advertisement and rang my mum to say, "We have to get Sophie down there to see what it’s like."' As the daughter of a sporty family in Nottinghamshire, Sophie grew up as an avid horse rider. The motto that keeps her going its: 'Work hard in silence, let success make all the noise.' There's no doubt we'll be hearing a lot more noise from her this year.
'Boxing was the friend I never had in school. I was bullied for being overweight and it was my saviour,' says Ramla, recalling the first time she went to a boxing gym when she was around 12. 'I remember everyone was just staring at me, like, "What are you doing here? Are you lost?"' But Ramla, who came to London from Somalia as a refugee, kept going back out of sheer pride: 'I hate it when someone tells me I can't do something – it makes me more determined to do it.' She has since won several titles in the UK, and set up a boxing federation in Somalia so she can compete for the country at the Tokyo Olympics. If she makes it, she has a pact with her mum – from whom she kept her boxing secret for a long time – that she will come and watch her daughter's first fight. 'I’m hoping to inspire a new generation of boxers, especially in Africa – girls who think they can't get into sport because they feel like they've got to be a certain way because of where they come from.'
When she first started boxing aged nine, Caroline had to say she was called 'Colin' to even be allowed in the gym: 'I sparred so hard, I made the boy cry,' she recalls. She later had to leave when they found out she was a girl. Now, at 18, 'Colin' is long gone and Caroline is the European, World and Olympic Youth Champion and one of Britain’s brightest hopes going for a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. 'When you walk into a venue and everyone knows you because you're undefeated, even though there’s jealousy, you feel like you’re on top of the world.' The only area of doubt is which song will play as she walks into the ring: 'My dad wants Sweet Caroline, which I will do one day to make him happy, but I also like Here Comes the Hotstepper.'
This article appears in the July 2019 edition of ELLE UK. Subscribe here to make sure you never miss an issue.
