Like many people her age in love with the beautiful game, Leigh Jakes’ first memories of soccer come from early childhood. She was a bookworm, “mousy” as she calls it, tiny but scrappy, playing against girls well above her age group.
“I had an older cousin who played and I wanted to do everything she did,” Leigh says, “so I decided I was going to play but only if I could play on her team. She was two years older than me, so all I can really remember is just running all over the field and getting knocked down, because I was so little compared to the other girls.