The talent set to form the future of Reay’s Lady Cats
The future of Mel Reay’s Sunderland, or at least a significant part of it, are sitting reflecting on their first steps in the senior game so far.
What really strikes you about Grace Ede, Daisy Burt and Katy Watson is that their journeyshavesocloselyoverlapped, and outline how Sunderland want to thrive in the future. All three started out in boy’s football, Burt explaining that she started playing in North Shields before successfully trialling at Sunderland aged eight.
Ede found her way to the club through sessions at the Foundation of Light on a Friday night, before being spotted as a player of significant potential aged nine.
Watson initially trialled at Newcastle United before coming to Sunderland at a similar age to Burt and Ede.
Since then, all three have closely followed the club’s fortunes as they have made their way, age group by age group, to the brink of Reay’s team.
Each of the three list their debut as an immediate highlight of their time at the club so far, the moment when all those years of hard work and dreaming of a future in the game began to pay off.
“It makes me really proud to be here, you used to watch the games and look up to the players and now you're there yourself,” Watson says.
“From being in the RTC, your goal is always to get into the team,” Burt adds.
“You go and watch the team when you're little so when you get the feeling of actually making it into the team as a senior, it's amazing really.”
“I've been at Sunderland ever since I was little, so you make your way through all the age groups,” Ede adds.
“You watch the senior team for so long, then it's a really special feeling when you manage to get there yourself.”
That all three have had game time this season underlines how Reay has looked, while ultimately trying to protect Sunderland’s Championship status, to build a pathway for the region’s tal
ented players.
“I've just enjoyed the challenge of being in training with the older girls. It's been a really good experience so far and to be honest I'm just trying to take it all in,” Burt says.
“To get the opportunity is massive and I'm just trying to do the best I can to make the most of it.
“It's a really big step up from the U16s but one that I'm really enjoying,” Ede adds.
“It's good to get the experience, speak to the older players, see how other people play and learn from that.”
“It's a lot more challenging than RTC football, but that’s something that you really enjoy,” Watson says.
All three trained with the senior team before signing permanently, giving them an opportunity to experience the environment, and Reay has no doubt that they are ready.
“If you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” she said, when bringing Ede into the squad last year.
Burt, Reay told The Echo, is an enthusiastic full back ‘with a great engine’.
“Hard as nails,” she added with a grin.
Watson’s goals in the RTC set-up caught the eye but Reay was also encouraged that the other aspects of her game were now ready to make the step up.
“She has real pace, hits really good physical targets in terms of her speed which shows he can play at the level,” Reay said.
“They'll need time to develop and the idea is that if you put them in our environment, in two, three, four years time they have experienced a lot of football and will be the future.”
For inspiration, the trio don’t have to look far.
Reay’s current side is packed with players who have gone on the same journey. Of course, this is part financial and practical reality, a currently part-time outfit that had limited time between promotion and beginning the new campaign but it is also a reflection of Reay’s absolute commitment to developing the immense talent in the North East.
It acts as major incentive for players breaking through: “You look at the team and its players who are only a couple of years older than us, and they're starting in the team every week,” Burt says.
“It gives you that incentive because it shows you that if you work hard, take the opportunities as it comes along, then you could be in that position.”
Watson adds: “It just shows you what's possible for all of us coming through.”
Burt and Ede have, like Neve Herron and Libbi McInnes and many others throughout the RTC age groups, also had the opportunity to build on their progress in the international set-up across the course of the campaign.
“It's been really good experience because you're getting that standard of training that is similar to first-team level,” Ede says.
“So you're not only getting exposed to that higher standard at club level, you go away and it's quite similar. It's also really good to play against the other international teams, you learn from the other players and the games. To travel across the world as well is just an amazing experience.”
Burt adds: “I think it just gives you a bit of a different outlook as well when you come back to train at Sunderland, little things that you can do differently and work on.
“It just gives you loads of little different opportunities like that.”
Sunderland earlier this week announced their intention to form an U23 side next season, acting as another bridge from grassroots to top-level women’s football.
In the long term, the club wants to grow but sustainability is a key word and whatever comes in the future, developing North East talent will be at the heart of it. Ede, Burt and Watson are following in famous footsteps, and they are just getting started.