Mito gushed poetic about how he loved how everyone was playing. Jimmy said Milner was the highlight of his life. Zanj is going to try fasting for a while and everyone else was genuinely pleased with what they saw.
It certainly is in print and I pushed it after the women's Euros and made 30 free sales for that and the sequel Goalden Sky when I did a free Kindle promo. You can read the reviews here: https://traceymorait.co.uk/reviews-for-goalden-girl/ I self-publish btw
It would be great to find out if any of the current squad read it growing up. I got it for my daughter when she was 12, but she sort of lost interest in playing sports (apart from swimming) when she hit that age. And became bloody interested in boys instead....
I had a verbal agreement with her from when she was three that she would concentrate on her schoolwork and not mess around with boys until she was 21. My sister (her godmother) went and told her a verbal contract is not worth the paper it is written on.
My daughter wanted to leave school at 16, and as I'd done the same at her age I couldn't really object. She did a few jobs for a few years, then did an access course to uni and got an honours degree - all in her own time. She enjoyed it a lot more that way than being made to do it straight from school.
From being in an amateur sports club (and also having worked in a School), we see a huge drop off in girls playing sport between 13-16. That age range coincides with moving up to senior (or young adult age groups) participation from junior, ie when it starts to become less of a 'fun activity' But also secondary school. As you say some of that is boys, but there also (for boys and girls) the wanting to concentrate on school for some, not wanting to be seen as different by doing something most aren't doing, being forced to pick just one sport by 16 if you are serious about it and (specific to girls) not wanting to be seen as the sporty girl which in the school world is deemed less feminine and therefore different and bad( School life) Unfortunately one of the things schools lose first with cut backs is extra school activities (sports etc)
My 3 kids, two girls and a boy, were not sporty. My son tried his best, and was very enthusiastic, the girls were not bothered from an early age and hated organised sport, but both were decent swimmers. My youngest was chosen for the school swimming team in an inter schools competition and beat the Shropshire Breast Stroke champion who was representing another school. She was asked to take up swimming competitively, but said no as it would mean having to drop out of the County brass band to fit all the training in and she preferred her music. Academically all three are very bright and achieved good exam results and went on to university, youngest still there doing a PHD after her Masters (she will be 27 when she finally leaves). I think it is very much a case of horses for courses. If a child enjoys sport they are more likely to be good at it, if they have a natural talent, but no interest in sport, then you can't force them to enjoy it. When I was at school the best footballer in our year played for Merseyside, but when he left school he never played football competitively again as he concentrated on trying to have a career in music, partially successful but not enough to make a decent living.
i think people make a little too much out of sport and don't really see a lot of other fine activities that give kids purposes. competitive sport is not actually about fitness which this message to girls used to be about. competitive sport is about winning. Boys and girls can go watch birds if that's what gets them doing something IMO. Anythign is bette rthan sitting wathcing love island and that diet of brain and soul rot that peopel forced at kids.
no sport isn't just about winning it is about improving , group activities , fitness and most importantly enjoying yourself .
And all while playing in a 2-4-3 formation where trent thought he was a cf.... Palace should actually be ashamed they didn't kill us
