Beatrice Rogers

I am a 19 year old aspiring footballer and Under Armour currently playing in defence for tier 4 side London Seaward.

Football has always been my whole life, it's my way to escape the rest of the world for 90 minutes and I am working hard to make my dreams of being a professional footballer a reality.

I started playing football when I was 9 when I was selected as the first girl ever to play for the boys football team at school. Sadly though it didn't last very long and after only 3 matches I was kicked off the team due to the opposition parents complaining about there being a girl on the team. Although I didn't realise it at the time, this has had a massive impact on me! I have become so determined to not let what happened to me happen to any other young girls. I've strived use the platform I have as a tier 4 women's footballer to help me inspire the next generation of female footballers and show them that football is a game for everyone. I've done this by setting up social media channels (@beatricerogers_) where I create women's football content to increase the representation of women's football online. I've also started coaching at my local girls football club where I am one of the only female coaches, to try and help the young girls in my community find their place in the game. I'm also a fully qualified referee and I referee football matches every week as I really enjoying helping young girls play football on the weekends and I feel there is a massive lack of female referees in the game which I would love to help change.

Last year I signed a sponsorship deal with Under Armour, through their @UANextLondon program. They work with high level youth athletes to try and help them achieve their goals of pursuing a career in sport. The support they have given me has been incredible and it has really helped me elevate my game