Swindon’s Kerry Walklett is one of 14 players who have been selected for England’s first-ever women’s football national squad.
Walklett, who also plays 11-a-side football for Cardiff City, will become one or the inaugural Futsal Lionesses after making the cut from 30 players who had been selected to trial for the squad.
Futsal, a version of football played with five players on each team on a hard court, has been credited by the likes of Lionel Messi and Neymar as helping their development.
Walklett will be the vice-captain of the team looking to qualify for the inaugural FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup when England take on Finland, Moldova, and Slovenia in qualifiers later this month.
She said: “It is a massive honour to be selected. Anything within women’s football and futsal, you really want to be a pioneer in it and break the barriers down and leave a better path for the girls growing up now.
“Being part of something that has never happened before is really special for me because I coach a lot of young girls as well.
“We don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves but if we go and do well and qualify for next summer’s World Cup then we will be the height of conversation in futsal and that spreads in.
“But because we are new we have no idea what we are going into but we have got the chance to get people talking more about the sport.”
Walklett, much like West Ham United’s and former England futsal international Max Kilman, also plays football to a very high standard having recently played for Cardiff against FC Twente in the Women’s Champions League, has had an interesting path to this point.
She said: “I didn’t play for a team until I was ten and played grassroots right up until I was 19 then I was on a coaching course with a guy who used to manage Oxford United and said I should be playing higher and I went on trial there.
“I went from playing in the bottom tier of women’s football to making my debut in the Championship in a month.
“I have been grasping onto every opportunity since and playing in the Champions League has been amazing, not just playing but everything around it.
“Playing futsal has always been a really good refresh for me because you get loads of touches on the ball, do your skills and get shots off then I would go into a game on Sunday feeling like Messi.”
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