'It's so important that the younger generations can see these female coaches'

My name is Sabiha Jamal and I'm currently the West Ham United women’s under-16 coach, a technical coach for the England Women’s Pathway and I'm also coaching England women’s under-16s as part of the FA’s England Elite Coach Programme.

Until recently, I was also head of football at a charity called Goals4Girls based in east London, where my role was to provide as many sustainable pathways within football as possible, expanding this beyond just playing.

I came into this role to restart the development centre, providing access to academy level training for all girls in the Newham area, using this as a starting point to then provide each player with a suitable club to join alongside.

Many factors from location, timing, playing level and experience would be taken into account to ensure they could enjoy playing, and carry on their football journey. It felt great to provide these girls with an opportunity that I wish I'd had and to stop them dropping off, which was one of my biggest regrets for a long time.

My journey in football probably sounds a lot like most girls who are my age, in that I would play at school, in the parks and at the cages, and would be the only girl playing with the boys. The only reason this felt normal was down to my older sister, who was my role model and the reason I started and enjoyed football as a child.

But I didn’t start playing for a team or receive actual coaching until I joined a local team at 16. I did really well at training because it was five-a-side and that was what I was used to but when it came to eleven-a-side, I had no idea what I was meant to be doing in terms of positioning, my role and getting used to distances among other things.

I played for a few months, but I eventually lost all confidence as it felt like I couldn’t understand the game and I found it really difficult to accept I may not be good at something I thought I was really good at. I stopped playing altogether and it wasn’t until I moved out to Dubai at around 21, after finishing university, that I started playing again.

I began playing for fun and enjoyed it to the point where I couldn’t stop. I ended up being invited to a draft game for the UAE Women’s League and ended up playing at the highest level I could out there.

Alongside this, I had a job which I wasn’t enjoying and then one of my best mates said why don’t you go back to football?

At that point, I thought maybe there was something I could do around coaching so I approached an academy out there. I think being from England and playing football helped me get the opportunity and leading me to a trial session.

Within two weeks, I was doing eight sessions a week part-time and then another two weeks later, I was full-time doing at least 18 to 24 sessions a week.

I was keen to coach in different places and after working for three or four academies, I joined the largest grassroots academy out there, where they had boys and girls of all ages. It massively helped being surrounded by top-level UEFA coaches, giving me advice and encouragement that I was learning every day.

I think it was a couple of years into doing that when the penny dropped that football could be my career, which is when a part of me knew if I wanted to play or coach football, England was the place to be, so I came back and played for the likes of QPR, Coventry United and then London Bees whilst also doing my coaching badges. I also pursued Futsal, playing for Bloomsbury and this season Helvecia in the National Futsal Series.

I tried to gain as much coaching experience as I could, working across the boys, girls and adult game at various levels, but found that my playing environments were massively influencing my coaching style, philosophy and ultimately my player relationships.

I finished my UEFA B last year and now the ultimate goal will be to get my UEFA A licence and the ultimate dream is to manage an adult elite women’s team.

It’s an honour to be involved with England WU16s, it doesn’t get bigger than the Lionesses and it's something I could never have imagined.

My first camp was a massive achievement and I want to use it to show that there is a place for Asian Muslim women in football. John Salomon and the entire team were exceptionally welcoming. I can’t explain how much I enjoyed myself and how much I learned.

There are so many details that I’ve already incorporated back into my own coaching environment, it's been an invaluable experience and I’m even more excited going into the next one.

Initiatives like the England Elite Coach Programme are massively important in helping provide opportunities for people from Black, Asian, Mixed or Ethnic backgrounds. I still want to help with diversity in the elite game and have recently joined the England Women’s Talent Pathway as a technical coach to help spot potential talent that isn’t being seen.

When I was growing up, I got used to being the only girl in and around football, but it is so important that the younger generations can see these female coaches and other roles within football, so they realise there are all these amazing opportunities and genuine career paths within the game.