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Are you ready to step onto the field with elite female footballer, Lucy Ronald? Strap in as she takes us on a journey from scoring goals for a boys' team to making waves at Glasgow City. We explore how her perception of football as a career has evolved over the past eight years and the vital role that visible role models in the industry play in shaping this. Lucy also shares her hopes and dreams for the future of women's football, offering valuable insights that could potentially be transformative for your club.
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Get in touch with us directly today
Are you ready to step onto the field with elite female footballer, Lucy Ronald? Strap in as she takes us on a journey from scoring goals for a boys' team to making waves at Glasgow City. We explore how her perception of football as a career has evolved over the past eight years and the vital role that visible role models in the industry play in shaping this. Lucy also shares her hopes and dreams for the future of women's football, offering valuable insights that could potentially be transformative for your club.
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seems like a long time since we last done this.
Speaker 2:I know I mean we're giving ourselves away here a little bit, but we did a lot of pre recording of our podcast in 2023.
Speaker 1:We pre record a lot of the interviews, but we do do this bit more often than the interviews.
Speaker 2:But it's been a little while, Stephen. I think we're feeling a bit rusty. Feeling a bit rusty. It's feeling a bit different being back on camera and doing the podcast, but actually I have to say I have missed it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, me too, and now I mean it's full. Okay, think about this time last year, when we're just sitting with two little mikes.
Speaker 2:And, to be honest, you know, the production's really gone up in scale and I have to say that's not due to you, stephen, that's due to our fantastic video for Brian and video for podcaster.
Speaker 1:And now now Brian has his own offshoot podcast of in the club he has.
Speaker 2:I remember him presenting that idea. And what is in the club? Or what is it? It's not in the club.
Speaker 1:It's at the club, it's in the club, presents at the club and, yeah, it's going to be a lot more frequent than our ones, so he's going to probably take over ours eventually.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know that Brian needs to be watched. Can you tell us a little bit about what at the club is?
Speaker 1:Well, it is an opportunity for us, for Brian and class, for kids, to talk to our customers, but not just our customers, a much wider kind of net of people that have been involved with kids activity clubs and maybe people that have gone on from kids activity clubs or from dance, football, gymnastics to do things that are much different, and it's going to be a lot more frequent. It's going to be shorter, sort of bite sized bits, but, yeah, it's going to be dropped. By the time this drops, there's probably going to be one coming right after it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know Brian was talking to us about this idea and this concept and I think one of the things going into 2024 at class for kids, just quickly before we get to the next podcast, is that we do want to do a little bit more of bringing experts in than the ones that really know this industry. We know it well, but they're the ones that know what inside out and we want to learn with customers and clubs alongside them while they're learning. That and I think at the club is going to be a great addition to our podcast family On that.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you've got any wish or want to be on that podcast or our podcast you can slide into our DMs at class for kids UK. That's what she said. That's the bit I didn't know, so you don't know much about today's guest.
Speaker 2:I don't. I was off when this guest came in. I was on holiday because I took a holiday.
Speaker 1:I don't know that much because I didn't interview her, because it's a football guest.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, so in case you've missed the rewind, let's rewind a little bit. Stephen can't interview footballers, he says they sniff him out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they get me straight away. They literally just look at me and go. You don't know football.
Speaker 2:So a few months ago we went down to London and we brought one of our colleagues, Daz or Darren, down with us to interview some of the football stars, and I think it's Daz that's doing this podcast, this is?
Speaker 1:this podcast is just grown arms and legs, isn't it? More cast members this is the second year, you know, and it is getting bigger. Daz is going to be, and is our kind of football correspondent, so that when he's talking to them he's talking like the right language, not just kind of sliding the talk like I do. And it was terrible, it was bad. He didn't ever want to hear me doing it.
Speaker 2:It was. So who is Daz catching up with in this podcast?
Speaker 1:Daz is catching up with an elite female footballer, lucy Ronald. She's a Scottish footballer who's played for Motherwell, glasgow City and is currently her career is just going like that. I think we've caught it at the right time because she's probably going to I won't say too much, I have listened to it. There's lots of scope for this girl in the future. There's also lots, I think, that we could potentially be doing with her in 2024 and beyond.
Speaker 1:She is one to watch. This is what I'll say. She's absolutely one to watch, and I think we've got her right at the right time.
Speaker 2:And for our clubs that are out there. I take it there's going to be some golden nuggets in there for them to take away.
Speaker 1:Golden nuggets of pure joy.
Speaker 2:Well, rather than listening to us ramble, I think we should just get stuck straight into the podcast.
Speaker 1:Let's do that. Here is Lucy Ronald being interviewed by Daz about football.
Speaker 4:Tell us a bit about your journey, like in professional football at. What kind of made you pursue a career in football? Was it something you were always interested in at a young age? When did you start playing All that sort of stuff?
Speaker 3:Yeah, football has always been a massive part of my life. I get into it really young. My brother played and I just wanted to be exactly like him. I played by a boys team for a wee bit and then enjoying Glasgow City. I was there for eight years. There you set up really good there.
Speaker 3:I was really grateful for my time at Glasgow City but I think for me, being a young girl playing at that time, I didn't think there was a career in football. There wasn't really visible role models at that time, which is obviously massively changing now, which is good to see. But I would only say in the last four years I really thought I wanted to pursue a career In football. I always saw it as a hobby. I loved it. I never saw myself not playing football but it was never something that I thought I could make a career out of. Obviously still not full-timey just now, but I've got the aspiration to get there and, yeah, it's good now that young girls as young as 10 when they started at Glasgow City can see those players which we didn't have from a long time ago, 100%.
Speaker 4:Obviously. Traditionally it has been a male-dominated sport, as you say. And what kind of challenges did that bring up for you as obviously you've touched on maybe not having the role models and stuff as a young girl growing up playing football, would you say that was kind of main challenges. Anything else that kind of could have prevented you at that age from doing what you're doing now.
Speaker 3:I think so I think there's a lot of things you know like I hope it's changing now for young girls. But then it was sort of you'd see a girl playing and all the boys would be looking and comments would be made, and but it was never something that got me down. I actually loved it like I would. I love going to play with the boys and you'd show up. You'd see them all looking and I'd confidence that I knew I could play. You know what I mean so.
Speaker 4:I loved when you'd get the ball to your feet and take a couple of them, and they'd be raging and trying to clean you out and stuff like I did love that, but you could see how it could have the balls that effect yeah definitely, and remember like when I played boys club football it was the same kind of situation, like eight, nine years old and there was like a girl joined my team and I was probably one of those people.
Speaker 4:That was about like, like what's going on here? Like finding it a bit strange. But then when you seen how good she was and how much she enjoyed it and how she could actually handle herself like amongst the boys and and like actual games and stuff, then it's like, oh, you totally deserve and have earned it, like the right to be playing, and it's great to see that you know how many people kind of enjoy the sport now and how much it's grown in the, the women's side of things. Something else I'd like to ask like what do you remember first realize and like, oh, I'm actually quite decent, like I'm, I'm quite good at football? Was there a moment where you thought like I could, I've got a wee chance here of kind of making it in in the professional game?
Speaker 3:I don't know like. I've always lacked confidence. I'd say it's one thing I have, but like when I was younger, I like I knew I was good yeah, when. I played with the boys. I was confident yeah.
Speaker 3:I played with my brother and like I knew I was good then yeah, and then I think like youth career, it was like obviously ups and downs of it and Scotland camps not getting selected kind of puts out in your mind if you're going to get there. And I still to this day don't know if I think I'm good enough to get there. Yeah, I think I don't know it's it's. It's a hard one. I like I know I'm a good player but yeah it's hard to know if I like how good.
Speaker 3:I think I'm good enough to get there.
Speaker 4:In comparison to the, obviously the women that are in the full-time game as well, and not totally, and again, like we spoke briefly about that, and they cut fine on stuff and the goal that you scored. What are some of the other highlights of your career so far? Obviously, you're only 21, so you've got many years ahead of you out injured at the moment, but anything else that kind of stands out so far. What? What have some of the main highlights been?
Speaker 3:I would say making my Glasgow City debut with the first team was big for me yeah, I'd been 18, 17, 18.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was massive for me, so obviously I'd been at the club for such a long time. It's a club that means a lot to me and to make my my debut against Rangers, it was really, really good. Yeah. And other like this season, like the season just there sorry, when I got injured like as much as that was the worst possible end to my season. Yeah, there was so many highlights of it. Yeah, and then to get the women's play at the year at the end of that season after getting injury was really, really good.
Speaker 3:I'd say, that's if. I could relate for me but yeah, there's been many ups, I think yeah as I say, getting getting Glasgow women promoted was was amazing.
Speaker 3:Signing for Hibbs was a big one as well, I think it was like a pivotal time in my career where I needed something more to develop me as a player, and I think that was the perfect thing for me. I was training my full-time players players that played at the elite level for a long, long time, scotland internationalists and I learned a lot in that period, I think we've already achieved quite a lot.
Speaker 4:For someone your age especially so like interesting to see you know in ten years time what other things you will have done in the game. And have you got kind of lofty ambitions to go into the sort of full time women's professional game? Is that something that you want to do?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, yes, definitely. My biggest ambition is to play full time and I'm desperate to give everything to football yeah and yeah, obviously injury set me back a little bit, but if anything, it just it's going to drive me more yeah totally.
Speaker 4:I was going to just touch on that. Like having played football obviously a fairly decent level when I was in my younger days, obviously I know like how frustrating injuries are being are, how frustrating it has been injured at that point and just not being able to impact things, and going and watching from the side and seeing like your pal's playing and you not being able to do it and how how frustrating has that been for you so far since you've been out injured, was it? Did you say end of last season?
Speaker 4:you picked up that injury.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's been really, really tough. I think the time that I did it we were playing semi-final against Rangers at Hamden the week after, so to miss out on that was we're actually playing for Park and then Hamden in the one week which I missed out on, which was gotten for me, and then obviously having to watch the games this season and knowing that I can't be a part of it on the pitch has been really hard. I've never sustained an injury before really in my career, let alone one as severe as an ACL injury, but it is. It's really tough. Everyone. That's as you say. If you've gone through an injury, you know what it's like. Yeah, especially when you're out for such a long time and you know you've got a lot more of it to come. But it's just trying to stay motivated and support the girls as well, because they've been very supportive of me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I know it's like I was going to ask if it's setting you'd experienced before, but if it's something completely new to you, then you can only imagine how tough it is. And, as I say, like going and watching is great, but not being able to actually go, and you probably feel yourself in certain games that I could make a difference here or I could impact this, and you're obviously not able to at the moment. And, alongside that, any other kind of challenges that you face so far and anything you've had to overcome to get to where you are just now.
Speaker 3:I think, just you know, there's always points in your career where maybe certain managers don't think you're good enough for not getting selected for Scotland teams. In my youth career I found that really hard and it's just overcoming them and yeah, I think there is definitely things that you need to overcome, but definitely ups and downs.
Speaker 4:But yeah, I think it's probably just people not thinking you're good enough at certain areas and you need to have the confidence to come back from it yeah, I get that in here all the time and obviously like your role model to young aspiring girls that want to get into football and, as I said, it's great you know how much that the game's developed over the years and become, you know, a lot more popular and a lot more open to young girls. And what kind of message would you have for a young girl if you could speak to yourself maybe 10, 11 years ago? What would you kind of? What would your message be for any girl that wants to make a career in football?
Speaker 3:I would just say to have confidence in yourself and you'll have setbacks. You'll have people turning their nose up at the fact that you're a girl playing football.
Speaker 3:As I say, hopefully that's changing, but it's just to know what you want and keep going for it. I think going through high schools is a difficult one, I think, both male and female. It's where you see kids that fall away from the game and I think, as long as you've got the ambition, there's a lot of sacrifice that goes into it and just to have that is good. As I say, now there's far more role models and forget, like the girls that come and watch.
Speaker 3:I still find it mind-blowing to see you. Because I never saw a women's game when I was younger.
Speaker 4:I know it's obviously a lot easier and better for them now than when you were growing up and it's great that they've got people like you and your teammates and all the other women that play in the league and stuff to look up to. How is that? Can I make you feel when you're playing in front of fans and you see maybe younger girls that maybe remind you of yourself from when you were that age and what's that? Can I play in front of crowds on a weekly basis, obviously before your injury?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just amazing to see. I still can't believe that I'm at a level where there is kids that look up to you. I think it is wild to see how a lot of the Earth Academy come along and watch, you can see how much it means to them before the game and after the game, and they're coming and chatting and it's good to spend time with them because I think that's something, when I was younger, you really appreciated when, I was at Glasgow City. If the senior team was, do you know to?
Speaker 4:come in and see what they're doing. Yeah, totally, I'm making a wee bit of effort, isn't it? It can go a long way. Even if it's just they come and watch a training session or the odd game here and there, I can imagine it makes a big difference. And, like Motherwell's, our whole family club as well. What's kind of your favourite thing about playing for them since you signed away from the pitch? What else do you enjoy about being at Motherwell?
Speaker 3:I think it's just such a good group we've got. It's a really really good club. All the girls we are like a family and we see each other outside the football and stuff and I absolutely love it there. It's been really really good and the club is. It's a really great club.
Speaker 4:Are we from football hobbies interests? What do you get up to in your spare time? Because you don't watch football, so what else do you get up to?
Speaker 3:People ask me this and I always find that a tough guy. I'm always just like yeah so they are.
Speaker 4:I just lie about it. I don't really do much else with football.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I just I like spending time with my friends, like I love a good coffee shop. I just don't have any big interests away from football that.
Speaker 4:I can. Nothing wrong with that. You're dead.
Speaker 3:It's just always been football.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I know I'm the same. To be fair, I'm weirdly obsessed with it, not as much the playing side of it now, but definitely watching it and just kind of taking it, taking as much of it in as I can. How do you kind of balance the football life with other important aspects of your life Like education, work? How's that been for you?
Speaker 3:It's really, really tough, I think, for a lot of us. You know, like a lot of the girls at Motherwell, have full time jobs alongside playing football to a really, really high level. You're competing against players that are full time, which is difficult, but I've always found that hard. You know, I've just graduated from uni and I was obviously playing as well, and then I found it really hard to hold down a part time job because I just had nothing left to give to my family life, social life.
Speaker 3:I think, when you train and play so much as I say, a lot of sacrifice, but yeah, it is hard, I think for female players obviously still now as I see players in our team that have done it for years. Teachers that are playing to this level it is mentally what?
Speaker 4:did you study uni?
Speaker 3:I studied social sciences.
Speaker 4:Oh, very nice, interesting, and you mentioned you've recently started working at Nike is that right. Cut that out if you don't want people to know where you work. You might get paparazzi and stuff after this. Okay, sorry, I've lost my notes a wee bit. So can you tell me a wee bit about the importance of women's football at grassroots level? So, obviously, what age did you start playing?
Speaker 3:I started playing really, really young, but I didn't get into a team probably until eight or nine. I started with a boys club. I didn't really last very long there, just with my brother's football. I didn't really work out. And then I would say I properly started playing for a team Glasgow City. I was ten years old, so I would say that's when I started properly with a team.
Speaker 4:I'd always kicked the ball. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:But I would say Glasgow City at ten.
Speaker 4:Cool and how important is that? You know Girls Presence at Grassroots Football. Do you think you know now, compared to maybe what it was in the past?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's really important. I think as well, like now there's obviously a lot more girls teams. Yeah, like we didn't know Looking for a girls team. I remember my mum saying like I had no idea.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like who to contact and I don't know. There's a lot more now and even girls playing in boys teams. I think is really important.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And you see a lot more of it, but it is. I'm really big in trying to inspire girls to get into playing and, yeah, it's definitely a growing game.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and how? Again, this might be a bit of a tricky one, but how do you think kind of society in general can encourage just younger girls to participate in football and to be confident and to kind of do what you've done and not let the setbacks and stuff affect you and just to have that mindset of I can make a you know, a career in this sport?
Speaker 3:I think socially it's just like changing the norm, Like I think there's still underlying that it's a male sport.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and.
Speaker 3:I think there's still a lot, a lot more further to go with that and to normalise girls playing football. I think that a really good stage in comparison to where we were 10 years ago, yeah, but I think it's just to keep on building on that and like to not stop here, like there's so much more to go.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:To have more of an equal game. And I think that will inspire more girls to get into it. You can see it now, like with the women's super league in England, like the crowds have been like selling out the eminence and stuff like that which is only going to inspire young girls at age 10 to get into playing. But, I think there's just still a long way to go.
Speaker 4:You can see it like just to normalise it 100% and, like the Lionesses obviously doing what they've done in the last couple of tournaments and stuff as well, it was only going to inspire. You know, people particularly in England but just across the world, Julian, and show them what you can do. Where do you kind of hope, say, 10 years from now, that the women's game is at, particularly in Scotland? Obviously that's kind of close to home for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would like to think that the top flight would be full time by that time. Yeah, I think obviously it's so far to go to get to a stage where it's anywhere near the men's game. Yeah, I would like to think most teams were full time by then and girls can see more of a career in football. Yeah, already, there's been massive improvements in the last couple of years.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think it's definitely possible when you just compare kind of now to 10, 15 years ago and then think forward where it could be and what other kind of developments could have happened in that time, and obviously a lot more people kind of advocating for the women's game and stuff, more kind of global recognition, more role models for kind of younger girls like yourself as well, can you share like any story or experience that kind of highlights the impact that football has had on your life? Anything that kind of comes to mind, even just the kind of best memories and stuff like friends that you've made throughout your time playing?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that is for me like I think going through school it's hard. You know, come and go with friends, but I think all my long term friendships have came from playing football. Yeah, friends for life that I've met at various stages. It was really good to have that outside of school. I think I'd really struggled if I didn't have that. So I think sport in general is obviously really really good for kids.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, 100% In that sense, but yeah.
Speaker 4:No, I totally agree. Like some of my kind of longest friends that I've had probably even before pals that I made at school and stuff have been through like playing football with from like a really young age and you just you just like stay in touch and that you could have got friends for life and like a good network of people and even just working here, for example. It's been great coming from that background and playing football and coaching football because it ties in, you know, to what we do here at ClassworkHids and it's just kind of stood me in good stead for my whole life really.
Speaker 1:I think Touch wood.
Speaker 4:OK, again, I've kind of asked this already, but if you could give one final piece of advice to young girls like who's better to play professional football, what would it be?
Speaker 3:I would just say never give up. Keep that dream like still a dream for me and it has been since I was young and I think it's just to keep believing in your ability and never give up on it.
Speaker 1:What did I tell you?
Speaker 2:Okay, you know that I hate saying this. I hate to say that you were right, but Lucy is one to watch and she is a rising star of the future in the football world.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. It was a great interview. I mean, Daz is getting too good for this, which is a bit worrying.
Speaker 2:I know I feel like we're slowly being pushed out of all these spaces, but you know what? The viewers have probably had enough of us. No one wants to see our faces anymore. I think it's great to have a range of people from across the business because, like you've said, people have different skill sets, people have different interests, so it's great to have them included in the podcast. And, of course, interviewing stars like Lucy and, yeah, great to hear her story very inspiring, and, of course, rehab for her injury seems to be going well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I hope it just continues to improve for her. We definitely will be catching up with her again in 2024. We will watch her career now with keen interest. She's one of us now.
Speaker 2:Basically, is what I'm saying yeah, I mean when you come on the podcast, you kind of become like one of class for kids. So, like Steven said at the start, if you want to come on in the club or if you want to come on in the club at the club, all you need to do is drop us a message below on our Instagram or you can message us via atclassforkidsuk. And can you believe, steven, that we are in November and that means that after this podcast drop, there's no one more podcast left to?
Speaker 1:2023. That means that when we enter January, 2024 will be the third year that we've been running this podcast Maybe we could have like a little birthday celebration or something like that. That's a good idea.
Speaker 2:As with party hats and cakes, people will love to see that, or we can have like a podcast off with at the club versus in the club. Oh yeah, let's just look at Brian right now. Yeah, brian's nodding so that's fine.
Speaker 1:We're going to have a little meeting of minds meeting of pods.
Speaker 2:meeting of pods. Yeah, so I guess the next podcast to give listeners a little bit of an insight might be a little bit of a wrap up on everything that's happened at class for kids.
Speaker 1:For me.
Speaker 2:we tend to do that at the end of a year, Some juicy stats from what we've seen across our customer base, what clubs have been up to and how they've been succeeding in 2023. Maybe coming to your ears very soon.
Speaker 1:But before that, remember at the club will be more frequent than this. We'll be publishing it on YouTube exclusively, but as a Spotify, apple podcasts, google podcasts, you'll be able to get it in all the same places you can get this. It'll just appear in your feed magically and give it a lesson. Brian's very, very good and I'm sure if you enjoy this, you'll enjoy that. Should we wrap up?
Speaker 2:I think we should. What do we do at the end of a podcast? Again, does Brian have this bit here in his podcast? No, he doesn't have a hook.
Speaker 1:So we know what ours is right. Yeah, what could Brian's be? It could be like, because we do one, two, three bye. Yeah, Three, two, one bye.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there we go, and it's kind of like consistent, so we're going to do one. Okay, you lead three two, one bye.