FULL-TIME IS WAY TO GO IF WE WANT TO IMPROVE

NO ONE really wants to talk about whether we’ll go full-time at Doncaster Rovers Belles next season until we actually get promoted. We know we’re in a good position in WSL2, but we can’t afford to slip up.

For the women’s game to move on, and for us to progress as a nation, everyone in WSL1 and WSL2 needs to be fulltime. Everyone in the game wants it to happen, but getting the finances on board is the most important thing. If everything works out as we hope, then that’s the vision at Doncaster.

To compete at WSL1 level you have to have at least ten or 11 players full-time. It’s a difficult decision for those who work. For example, we’ve got a teacher, a firefighter and a postie. If we go up, I think most of our players will train three or four times a week next term. The fulltime pros will probably do double sessions on those days and the others will have to do extra in their own time.

We all have our own programmes anyway. It’s about being as professional as you can be – training and eating right when you’re away from the team.

People laugh but I always have a cool bag with me. I make sure I’ve got healthy snacks in there so I’m not caught somewhere with no food when I’m hungry.

I’m lucky I can fit my training around my day job. I’ve got my media work and then I go into schools as an athlete mentor for Sky Sports’ Living for Sport programme. I also work with lots of different groups for the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust and I do sessions for Sporting Champions. It’s all about getting young people active and into sport. I love it.