A Visit from England's Siobhan Chamberlain

As a regular member of the England women’s national squad since 2004, with over 25 caps you can imagine how excited we were for Siobhan Chamberlain to come and coach us.Right before the holiday break Siobhan joined us at the Petchey Academy to share her skills and advice. Despite the cold, the session was fun and humbling. To have such talent in our presence was overwhelming at first, but after a few minutes of running around with Siobhan, we quickly realised that we all shared the same love of the game and enthusiasm when playing – you almost forget you're amongst a star.Siobhan's visit was part of Sport England's Sporting Champions initiative, that aims to bring world class athletes face-to-face with young people to inspire them. Our Thursday evening session at the Petchey Academy is a satellite club, aimed at increasing participation levels of young people in sport. Sport England are offering every secondary school the opportunity to host a satellite club. It's a great initiative, using schools as a hub for community sports.Huge thanks to Siobhan for giving her time and sharing her wisdom with us and also to London Sport and Sporting Champions for coordinating the visit.