She Kicks a Beat: Courtney Sweetman-Kirk

Chris Brookes profiles Everton striker Courtney Sweetman-Kirk for the music-led She Kicks a Beat slot. Twice FA WSL 2’s top scorer with Doncaster Rovers Belles and known for her salute celebration, the 27-year-old describes music as a huge part of her life, naming grime, dancehall and hip-hop as her favourite genres and Stormzy, J Hus, Giggs and Skepta among her artists. Handy on the drums, she traces the thread through her Barbadian heritage on her father’s side and the strength it gave her during a broken-leg comeback in 2016, recalling the Spice Girls as a likely first CD and her mother’s Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross. Named FA WSL 1 Player of the Month for November after her deadline-day move, she remembers dancing about at Donny with Sophie Barker and an ill-advised Britney Spears turn on the Everton team bus.