"Enjoyment comes before everything!" UWE women's footballers discuss how football impacts their wellbeing

The sun is shining upon the Hillside Gardens pitches, and two members of the UWE women’s football team stride confidently onto their home turf. This time, not to tackle opponents, but to tackle the issue of mental health in sport, and in particular, women’s football – the focus of the first episode of the On the ‘Ead podcast.

As female student athletes taking their first strides into the game, these two have began to walk the walk as footballers and know better than most the experiences that impact the mental health of female footballers – and they talked the talk too, offering fascinating insight into the mental health challenges and benefits football has provided them.

“Personally, football has done a lot for my mental health,” says Ciara Molloy, UWE centre-back and recent arrival from her home country of Canada. “Having that connection with your teammates is incredible. They know me best. They’ve seen me mad, cry, score a goal, let a goal in, they’ve seen every side of me, and I feel so connected with them.”

Conceding a 90th minute goal to lose a game couldn’t wipe the smile off her face as she discusses her old friends from back home and her the new teammates she is becoming mates for life with. “Just having a kick around and a laugh with the girls has always really helped my mental health.”

“For me, football is great. I love watching it, I love playing it,” adds Cerys Baker, UWE’s number one shot stopper. “Any chance I get, I’m down here, and it helps me relax and get away from my studies a bit.”

However, while football has been a means of taking a break from the stresses of daily life, the girls also agree that it can add to those stresses. “The biggest challenges come in two parts,” says Ciara, “being hard on yourself and wanting to do well creates a lot of anxiety. You want to do well, but also, mistakes are normal, that’s life,” she continues. “The other is the pressure put on you by your coach, family, fans and teammates, but that really depends what coach and team you’re with.”

As a keeper and the last line of defence, Cerys is also hard on herself. “It’s a really difficult mental game,” she says, “but keepers are crazy! And as much as it is disheartening, feeling like you’ve let your team down, you’ve got to remind yourself you win as a team and lost as a team.”

Regarding pressure put on players from those around them, Cerys believes it is about finding the team that is the right fit for you: “finding that good relationship with players and coaches is really important, even if you have to go down a league to find a better atmosphere for you.”

Female players have been found to be three times more likely to tear the ACL, perhaps the gravest sporting injury of all and often a career ender, and so women footballers face this added mental strain when they take the field.

“I’ve seen countless teammates tear their ACL,” says Ciara. “So many girls struggle mentally because they just want to play again, but also they feel the pressure to play to the same level as before.”

Cerys, who had a year long lay-off with injury herself, thinks that staying with the team and supporting them, even when injured really helps with mental health during recovery.

Thankfully, the two think openness around mental health in football is improving, especially in the women’s game. “Women are much more open to talk about mental health,” says Cerys, “and I think there is more support for both men and women than some people (even the players) sometimes realise.”

“The discussion around mental health in women’s sport is pretty open, but the actual implementation needs to be improved,” thinks Ciara. “I’ve had coaches tell me I need to push through (mental health struggles) or I’m weak, and that should not be normalised. If you need a day for your mental health, that should be respected and not questioned.”

Their advice to other young girls getting into the sport who may face mental health challenges is to find a team they’re comfortable with, “that’s significantly better for your mental health than a team that will push you and push you and not give you the chance to say, ‘I’m not okay, I need some support.’”

Ciara agrees, “when you find that team, the amount of fun, excitement and joy you will get from football will outweigh the mental struggles, but if your mental struggles are outweighing your joy of football, there’s something wrong, you need to change something.”

“Yeah,” Cerys adds, “enjoyment comes before everything!”