Grace inspires female ‘Sports Leaders’

Grace Clinton visited Fortismere School in Haringey where Tottenham Hotspur Foundation delivers a ‘Sports Leaders’ qualification for young female students.

The qualification provides a gateway for students into sports coaching careers, with 18 Year 9 students at the school currently taking the course.

Grace joined in as the students took part in football-based passing and movement drills before taking part in a Q&A session with the group around how she got involved in the sport herself and how she is finding life at Spurs so far having arrived on loan from Manchester United in the summer.

The 20-year-old, who recently earned her first senior England call-up, said: “This programme is amazing - the Club has a great Foundation, getting young girls into sport as much as possible.

“It doesn't have to be just football, it’s also about building confidence. They might want to be a footballer when they're older, so for them to see us players as inspirations, it's important that we can come and visit.

“There was nothing like this when I was growing up - I didn't have a school football team when I was in secondary school, so to see this is just unbelievable.”

During the session, the students were invited to come and watch Grace and her team-mates take the stage at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the Women’s North London derby against Arsenal in the WSL on Saturday 16 December (12 noon).

Grace is already relishing the occasion and said: “It’s going to be a really exciting game. We haven't had the best results against Arsenal in the past, but I think this year we're ready to put up a fight - I think it'll be a great game to watch.

“I played at the stadium once in pre-season against Aston Villa and it's an unbelievable stadium. It's where you want to be and it's great that we get to play there and we get so many fixtures at big stadiums now.” 

The Tottenham Hotspur Foundation is supported by the Premier League and Professional Footballer’s Association. Administered through the Premier League Charitable Fund, the funding helps football clubs to tackle inequality and respond to local challenges, supporting people and their communities to be more inclusive.

Tickets for the match are now available here.