Madeleine Blount

Maddie is 17 years old, lives in Walsall, West Midlands with me, Carrie, her Dad, her brother and her dog Coco. She is currently in her first year of Sixth Form at a local comprehensive school, studying for PE, Psychology and Geography A Levels and looking into career paths in sport, with a specific interest in Women's' Football. She has an all-round love of football, from starting to play at the age of nine for her junior school team, then playing for local grassroots football teams, currently with an U18's team in the Staffordshire Girls League. She went to watch her first Lioness match at Bescot Stadium in Walsall in 2017 and was hooked, travelling around England to watch their matches, and more recently watching as many WSL matches as she can around her own league matches. She watched the Lionesses defeated by Germany at Wembley in 2019, as well as the historic Euro's final at Wembley and the defeat of USA. She currently lives and breathes football, spending her spare time around her studies, reading, watching and now also helping to coach football with a local U9's girls team.

Maddie is a great team player, she is sensible and smart - a little on the shy side, but her good nature and sense of humour shine in her team and at school. She is level-headed, resilient and a wonderful encourager. This year has seen her really step out of her comfort zone, as she has started to explore career paths in women's football. She has been going along to universities to see what courses are on offer, but she has such a wide range of interests in the game, that she has been finding it hard to decide. She is interested in physiotherapy, psychology, performance analysis, social media, coaching and player support – and those are just areas of the industry that she is aware of. She knows there are lots of roles in football, but getting insight into them is what she has really been trying to do. She has attended football events, such as the Legacy of the Lionesses talk at the National Football Museum and Women in Football at UA92, she has started helping coach an Under 9’s girls team, she has spent time with a football commentator, created social media content for BeatFreeks x Aston Villa, become a Miss Kick Ambassador and hopes to volunteer with them at football tournaments, she is volunteering at the upcoming Copa Del Leukaemia tournament, and has a week’s work experience at the National Football Museum planned for July. Recently she has made a connection with Birmingham FA and applied to be part of their Student Team, as well as volunteering to take photographs and videos for her local Midland Football League club. She has started to record short pieces to camera on TikTok (@madeleineblount) and craft short pieces of writing and poetry. She has emailed lots of people and had zoom interviews and conversations – all things that have really developed her communication skills and started to grow her confidence. She is really trying hard to create opportunities and find out more about the industry and with her wide breadth of interest, her willingness and capability, I could see with the right encouragement, she in time, could be a future leader in the football industry and inspire the next generation of girls. Maddie has experienced first-hand some of the struggles for girls participating in grassroots football, so I am nominating Maddie for her enthusiasm, her positivity and determination. She doesn’t let setbacks stop her and takes any opportunity that comes her way, even if she is nervous, she takes a deep breath and gives things a go. This opportunity would be amazing, if not a bit daunting, but would hopefully give her insight into roles, behind the scenes, of women’s football that could help with shaping her career path. I think the ‘We See You’ campaign is fantastic – I see Maddie, I see her passion, I see her working towards her goals and I think she needs to see what opportunities are out there. I hope you give her a chance. Thank you so much for considering Maddie.