Eight years ago, when Ali Speechly was playing Sunday League matches with a team in south London, she was offered a free place on an FA Level 1 course, then the entry point into coaching in England.

That first course quickly led into a second and now, almost a decade on, Ali is a Uefa B level coach, with a vast array of experience under her belt.

She has coached players at grassroots level, respected girls’ academies, women’s clubs and foundations - and currently works with Goals4Girls, a football development programme for girls from deprived backgrounds which aims to bridge the gap between grassroots and academy.

Her coaching ethos is ’engage, educate, empower’. SCW caught up with Ali to find out more about that approach and how coaches can work on what drives them...