Promise is 18. She plays in in the Bloomsbury Football Academy and has just completed her third season with the team. Football has made her more confident and given her skills that she knows will help her succeed in later life.
We’re celebrating Promise’s story as a part of our ‘My game, my rules, my wins’ campaign alongside the 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro tournament – rewriting what it means to be a winner and show that more girls playing football means more winning, for everyone.
For Promise, winning means doing your best and understanding that there’s as much value in coming off the pitch with a loss as a victory. Read Promise’s story in her own words:
“I first heard about Bloomsbury through my twin brother. He was playing with the club already, so I went to one of the Holiday Camps. Josh, the Academy Manager, saw me play and was adamant that I joined a team – that was three years ago and this is my third season.
Football has always been a big part of the family, it was always on the TV. Personally, I prefer playing it over watching it. In the playground at primary school, Arsenal in the Community would come and do sessions and that’s how I started playing.
Outside my house is a little communal area, it’s just a patch of grass. Growing up, in the summer everyone who lived in the area would play on that green. I used to watch the boys through the window and was nervous to join because they were all boys. My sister and I started playing a couple of months after – we would all have so much fun.
Having my brother there, I felt safe. Nerves fade when you start going, but I feel a lot of me playing football is because I had a brother. Friends would have an interest but didn’t want to come to Camps or play with us. I definitely understand why it might be more difficult for other girls to get involved in football than boys.
A lot of people still say football’s more for boys, but there’s no gender on a sport. Anyone can play it, it’s about staying active. There’s this feeling before game day that I’m sure everyone gets. It’s excitement. You don’t know what’s going to go down yet, you just know you’ll get to see your teammates and it’s great.
I’m more resilient and I’m more composed because I play football. I like competition, but I used to be very lazy. If it wasn’t going my way in the first five minutes, I wouldn’t put in effort.
Our games are 80 minutes, there’s going to be moments where you’re feeling like “I can’t be bothered”. Football teaches you to keep pushing, and to be willing to work with other people, especially with that team dynamic. That’s one thing I picked up on from the coaches reinforcing, eventually it gets a bit more natural, and you see the benefits.
Coach Shanice is my favourite, definitely. It’s her approach – she’s light-hearted but also pushes us to be our best. She brings the energy on game days and always has everything we need. I feel supported, like if I’m not doing good, she’ll be there to reassure me.
I was very quiet and to myself, but I got more comfortable in the team and became more social. It’s easier for me to socialise, make new relationships and communicate, most definitely. She’s made me more confident and proud of myself.
Having a female coach means less explaining and less awkwardness. I feel like in a sports environment, everyone should be entitled to feeling comfortable, whether you’re male or female. I’ve felt most comfortable with female coaches.
Winning to me is doing the best you can at all times. Bloomsbury really push us to understand that you shouldn’t walk away with a loss and feel like you’ve lost everything. When I was younger, I was very frustrated when we would lose, but the coaches would ask ‘what are the good things to come from this loss?’.
I wouldn’t want to be a professional footballer, but I know it’ll remain with me forever. Football’s about having fun but it’s also teaching you new skills, like it’s my first group dynamic of working together. Obviously as I grow up, I’m going to have colleagues and have to work with people – I’m still going to have football there.”
