Little Kicks: Star Six with Steph Houghton (Abigail Edwards asks)

Eight-year-old Abigail Edwards, who plays for a boys’ team and a girls’ team and wants to be a defender and a captain for England, puts six questions – or seven, the magazine admits – to Steph Houghton. Her heroes growing up were Sunderland’s Kevin Phillips and David Beckham, chiefly for his free-kicks and passing. She became a defender entirely by chance: she started as a striker, played on the wing for England’s Under-19s, and Mo Marley moved her to right-back during an injury-hit training session. Everything since, she says, has surpassed what she imagined, because becoming a professional footballer was never a dream when she did not know it was possible. In ten years she hopes her family are healthy and she is still involved, encouraging young girls to keep playing.