The She Kicks Locker Room: Game Ready with Justine Vanhaevermaet (Reading)

The Locker Room’s match-day routine slot, with the only Belgian in the WSL in 2021-22 – a Reading midfielder, a qualified physio, and a player who missed the last European Championship through a late injury. Justine Vanhaevermaet is precise where the format usually gets vague: pancakes made with oats, flour and banana before a home game, a pre-workout shake, mobility and mini-band work in the dressing room, and visualisation the night or morning before, with two or three specific focus points repeated in her head as she steps on. With Belgium there is a twenty-minute bike session six hours out. She is honest about the aftermath of a bad game, angry at herself and desperate to train again quickly, and worse when there are two days off and she is alone in England.