Portsmouth footballer opens her own business to give children access to the game

Brittany is born and bred in Portsmouth and has grown up with a passion for playing and being part of football. The 25-year-old has had a successful career to date, after becoming a semi-professional player for Portsmouth women’s team when she was 18 years old and then since she left the team, she has established her own business, Align Performance.

Align Performance offers youngsters professional football guidance from Brittany and it aims to develop and help young people get involved in the game taking them to a level where they feel competent.

Brittany offers a number of different services within her business, which she set up two years ago, including 1-2-1 coaching, training for children aged five and upwards, holiday camps and a five-week training programme for Pompey Mini’s.

She says: ‘I have played football since I was about 5, back then for me there was nothing like this around. As the women’s game is progressing as well, I decided to get into one-to-one coaching, so I have been doing that for about two years now.’

The footballer has finally found her perfect venue to welcome youngsters and their parents and offer them a safe and secure space where they can play football and have fun.

She launched the new venture, which is based in Powerscourt Road, on December 19 and is eagerly anticipating what will await her in the new year.

Brittany said: ‘I have always had the dream to get an indoor facility where kids can come from the community and try and build the women’s game as well and eventually hopefully get some more female coaches involved in here too.

‘I have been looking for about a year. When I first started out, I looked for a smaller space just to see if it was something that could progress, so I would say two years I have been looking for something this big and to get this it is basically like gold to me and it has been working and we are opening up.’

Over the last year, women’s football in this country has witnessed some of the biggest achievements, particularly as the Lioness reached new heights by winning the UEFA European Women’s Championship when the beat Germany 2-1.

Brittany has remarkable ambitions for her future within her business as she outlines her mission to encourage more girls to put their football shoes on and get involved in the game.

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She adds: ‘It would be great to get more girls involved in the game and get more girls involved in coaching and get them the opportunity to play.

‘I would like to hopefully bridge the gap between grass roots and academies so hopefully get a little team going to connect with academies in Portsmouth and filter them through, it would be great to get some more girls involved.

‘To be a founder at 25 is a massive achievement and it is a goal I set myself. I want to open it up to birthday parties and businesses to use throughout the day, which will be really good because I want to help other businesses if I can.’

Brittany began playing football as semi professional for Portsmouth Women’s at 18, but gave it up after she fell out of love with the game as she wanted to start experiencing life as an adult, but she has found the spark for the sport again, and is now playing for Southampton Women, where she has a huge support network among her team.

She says: ‘Unfortunately I stopped playing and I want to help these kids not do the same thing. It wasn’t until recently that I joined back in football and my love for it now has reached new heights.’

She has also received a huge amount of support from her family and her clients’ parents who have helped her set up the site. Her dad played a big role in her redecorating the site, which is believed to have been a carpentry shop beforehand, and they managed to get it all ready within three weeks.

The football playing area is kitted out with a secure enclosure with netting and astro-turf as well as speakers and music so that children can listen to music whilst they are playing.

‘My family are football mad,’ says Brittany. ‘My uncle used to play at quite a high level but my dad has been involved with it and he used to take me out and play with me, so it comes from them really.

‘My family have always said to me to follow my dreams and that is what I am going to do and I want to help others follow their dream. I am just going to go for it and hopefully it works.’

This new business venture comes from personal experience when Brittany did not have the access to girls’ teams or clubs that she could go to during the holidays, and she said how she found it harder to play as a girl compared to the boys.

‘I had to play with for the boys team when I was younger which was fine because they are physically stronger which gets you up to that level. I used to get so much hate and the boys would say how girls can’t play football and I would say it is only because they were jealous.

‘I have kept it quiet, no one has seen it because I wanted it to be a surprise. It is good to look at this and think I did this. I am really proud of myself.’