When I turned 16, I had to progress to the BHAFC Adult Disability Development Squad. I could no longer play in the U16s where I found my place. This was a real turning point in my time at Brighton, as I went from enjoying all the training sessions and tournament days, to worrying about my safety. I was playing against men, some who were double my age, and biologically stronger than me to the point where I would go in for a tackle and I would end up on the floor almost every time.

This prompted me to part ways with BHAFC, but they wanted to keep me involved, so they offered me a place in the Cerebral Palsy Women’s team. As you can imagine, this sent me down the rabbit hole of possibly playing for the England CP team. But when I was told that I didn’t qualify because I don’t have Cerebral Palsy, I was heartbroken. I had to prioritise my health and safety, so I (albeit reluctantly) rejected Brighton’s offer and went back to only playing mainstream football, which for that season was still U18s.

However, as I made the jump from U18 to Women’s in Mainstream, my Spinabifida stopped me from being able to play half a game, where the season before, I would just about be able to get 90 minutes before the pain kicked in (pun intended!). I once again emailed the FA, but there was nothing they could offer me, no provision for my condition, or any similar. This is why the Paine Foundation is so important, and I want to be able to stop others from feeling isolated, in the grey area between abled and disabled, in the empty space between mainstream and parasports.