Nikita Parris' grassroots story

My earliest football memory would probably be playing in the garden at the age of four or five with my brothers and my neighbour at the time, Marcus. He had the biggest garden so he created a football pitch and all the boys would go and play while I sat on the wall watching. Then one day they invited me to play and from that moment I have never wanted to do anything else but play football.

I have two older brothers, Kyle and Delroy, and one twin sister, Kelsey, and my dad has other children as well, so we are a big family but we are close. My siblings are always there to support me at every game and when I am going through my hardest times and I really need support, like when I was out in France and I found it difficult in the first six months to settle. It is at times like that when my family are really there for me and you really appreciate in those times what it means to be a family. They have been massively important in my career.

I lived in Toxteth near Berkley Street. My house was in Arnold Crescent, which was right in the centre, and we used to play on the local astro, which we called the Sportsy. It was a sand field and the lights would go off at 6pm so then at 6.30pm we would go to the local youth centre called The Methodist, on Princes Avenue, and we would stay there until 9.30pm. That was when it was meant to shut but then Spencer Joel, the local leader, would give us a history lesson from 9.30pm until 10.30pm and then he would have to take us all home in the mini-bus.

My youth was so special and I will never forget those people who helped me grow as a person first and then as a player.

I first joined a boys’ team when I was eight. My cousins were going to a trial at a Sunday league team called Kingsley United and I thought I would go with them and sit and watch because I loved football any way. And then Kelvin, who was also my next-door neighbour, said ‘Nikita, come and join in now’. I was like ‘What! Are you serious?’ He was then like ‘Yeah come and join in!’

Then beyond that we need to have a structure in place to allow people to go from football for fun to developing their game and into elite structures because sometimes for inner city kids, these structures can be a bit too complex and you go from the freedom of Sunday league football and being a raw talent to going into an elite structure and it can be hard. If it is done in incremental stages then it won’t be so difficult when you go into that structure and they will be able to settle and showcase the best version of yourself.

There are many great leagues, mini-tournaments and mini teams that are being developed across the nation. It is important that this feeds into elite football and there is not such a big gap. There is a proper pathway.

To anyone considering playing football, I would say just give it a go because until you have actually experienced your first football session, you will never know what it feels like. You will never know what it feels like to meet another young girl who is a similar age and has similar interests but is from a different part of the city but you both have a common interest. I found that. I came from Toxteth and my best mate in football still to this day, Alex Greenwood, came from Bootle, which is an hour and 45 minutes’ walk away. But we had the same interest, the same age and became great friends despite our totally different backgrounds.

That is what I love about football. It brings so many different people together.