Plane plunge great for team bonding
Lionesses skipper on near-death trip
ENGLAND’S high flying Lionesses nearly came down to earth with a bump in the last World Cup but it brought the team together.
On Tuesday they play Sweden in the Euros semis but many players will count themselves lucky to be there after a near -death experience on a plane in France.
Captain Leah Williamson said: “We nearly went down. We were on an aeroplane going from place to place in the World Cup and this was like our fifth flight… the plane just drops mid-air.”
The Arsenal defender, 25, revealed she has a way to keep her team calm in a crisis – Take a Break puzzles.
She carries them with her when travelling to distract the Lionesses who are scared of flying, such as midfielder Jill
Scott. Speaking on Jill’s BBC podcast Coffee Club, Leah said: “As we were walking on to the plane, we’d started doing crosswords.
“Every time my grandma came to a game she bought me Take a Break magazines for all the crosswords and sudoku at the back.
“I had them in my bag so every time I got on a flight and I knew she was nervous, I would give them to her.”
Leah even changed seats to sit next to Jill, knowing she would struggle on the flight, with Leah munching all of Jill’s paprika Pringles as she was too nervous to eat. Jill, 35, said: “I have got a fear of flying. [The drop] was really bad. Even the pilot said it had never happened to him in like 30 years.”
At the time they were listening together to James Morrison hit Love Is Hard.
Jill said: “I actually didn’t really get scared because I was listening to this song.” Leah said: “Someone at the back of the plane actually screamed: ‘We’re going down!’”
Jill said the experience cemented the pair’s friendship, adding: “I am actually forever grateful to Leah for that moment, it actually made our friendship.”
Leah added: “We bonded massively.”
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