In June/July, Isabella and I had the amazing opportunity to trial for Brentford academy Under-16s. The trial process was extremely competitive, with around 600 girls trialling for just 20 places in the final squad. As Year 10 students, we are also playing a year above our age group, which makes the achievement even more special.

There were four difficult trial stages, and throughout the process we had to show our ability, determination, and teamwork. After putting in a lot of hard work, we were incredibly proud to find out that we had both made the squad!

We have already played two matches to determine which league we would compete in this season. We won both games convincingly, 5–0 and 6–0, which meant that we were promoted to a higher league.

We will now be competing against some fantastic teams, including London City Lionesses, Millwall and Charlton. We are really excited for the season ahead and cannot wait to see what we can achieve as a team.

By Alva and Isabella.