Amazing Mace (Ruby Mace interview)

In under a year Ruby Mace debuted for Arsenal, captained England Under-17s, moved to Birmingham on dual registration, scored a stoppage-time WSL goal that helped keep them up, and signed professionally for Manchester City – all before turning eighteen. She and her mother used to sit in the car saying that one day she would play in Manchester. She describes years of one-to-one coaching from half past seven in the morning before school, her mother driving two hours for a forty-five-minute session, and changing schools after months of messages asking why she was always at football. She is grateful to Joe Montemurro for putting her in front of people, and still holds an Essex county hurdles record.