SK Careers: Call An Ambulance – Nikki Brown & Gemma Fitzgerald (Paramedics)

The Careers in Football strand explores how a career path and football can fit together, talking to two paramedics from different ends of the country. Nikki Brown works on an ambulance responding to emergency calls across Yorkshire, has been a paramedic for three years and plays centre midfield for York City Ladies; she started at Liverpool Feds aged eight, played FA Women’s Premier League football with Liverpool Ladies at 18 and later turned out for Bristol City and Team Bath. Gemma Fitzgerald, a goalkeeper and part-time striker, played for and now helps out at Bexhill United LFC while awaiting her FA level 1. Both describe 12-hour day and night shifts on rotas without a pattern, swapping shifts to make Sunday games, missing training and socials, and occasionally playing on a few hours’ sleep. They discuss how football builds the teamwork, leadership and communication their work demands.