Remember how stressed you got when you were revising for your GCSEs? Now imagine adding the pressure of competing in a European Championship finals at the same time.
This is exactly what the England Women’s Under-17 squad are going through at the moment – and their head coach, John Griffiths, has praised his charges for the way they are handling the situation.
The Young Lionesses began their Euro finals campaign, which is being staged in Czech Republic, with a comfortable 5-0 win over Republic of Ireland on Wednesday.
Griffiths said: “It’s a balancing act. We are obviously trying to prep the players for each match, and we’ve got training sessions and meetings to fit in between matches.
“But it’s important to remember that the girls have got exams when we get back so they have to set aside time for education while we are here as well.
“These girls are only 16 years of age so we don’t want to make it too ferocious an event – but at the same time it’s still a major tournament, so the girls’ conduct and commitment has been remarkable.
“We have created a high-performance environment for them, for both football and education, and they just relish being in it.”
He continued: “I’ve never had one player over the last three years who hasn’t been committed to playing for their country.
“They sacrifice so much to get to this international stage. They are up early in the mornings for training, they miss out on time with their friends, lunch times at school. They do it all because they love football, but most importantly because they love playing for England.
“They recognise that this is the pinnacle of the game and they are willing to put that work in.”
