Emily Syme

It's 2014. It's a Friday. You can smell it wafting up the towerblock, filling every room to the brim with its seductive touch, antagonising hungry students as they stare vacantly out of the window across to the meadows just the other side of the large green school gates. They're not noticing the long golden grass shimmering under a scorching mid summer sun nor are they watching the cool blueish green water trickling through the weir. They're just waiting for the piercing scream of the bell. The call to arms. It's chip day.

But Emily was never the one rushing to the canteen to battle past hundreds of sweaty teenagers to get to the mountains of greasy golden chips that clogged up the arteries of so many attending the Castle School in Taunton. She was straight to the astro turf.

Shoes off was the way they played. Piles of the uncomfortable black leather bricks littered the touchlines blanketed by dark green blazers that no one bothered wearing in the blistering heat. On particularly hot days the rubber astro would start to melt and stick to their socks as they sprinted up and down the pitch much to the displeasure of their parents. The surface also had a nasty habit of leaving black smears over anything it touched. A particularly harsh tackle on a year 7 might leave dark tear stains running down their cheeks; to some a badge of honour but for most a mark of shame. But, it was here, through the pounding sun and lack of any food (or shoes), that England player Emily Syme was made.

Sourced from Twitter @TheCastleSchool

Sourced from Twitter @richuish

Syme attributes much of her early success to the school she spent 5 years at. Playing with the boys every lunch, training with their team and just being at an "expansive" secondary school she says really helped her game. Emily at the time was training around 20 hours a week and it was here at Castle school that she first realised she had the talent to play football professionally.

A lot, however, has happened since school for Emily Syme. For a 19 year old she has done more than most; she's played top flight English football, represented her country on the international stage, and all whilst studying a degree in Maths and Economics at Loughborough University.

In a time before England was ever on the cards, football was everywhere for a primary school-aged Emily. Everyday before school she would run riot through the house, tormenting every ornament in her Taunton home.

Syme attributes much of her early success to the school she spent 5 years at. Playing with the boys every lunch, training with their team and just being at an "expansive" secondary school she says really helped her game. Emily at the time was training around 20 hours a week and it was here at Castle school that she first realised she had the talent to play football professionally.

A lot, however, has happened since school for Emily Syme. For a 19 year old she has done more than most; she's played top flight English football, represented her country on the international stage, and all whilst studying a degree in Maths and Economics at Loughborough University.

Before England was ever on the cards, football was everywhere for a primary school-aged Emily. Everyday before school she would run riot through her house tormenting every ornament...

Emily attended Parkfield; a small primary school nestled in Galmington, Taunton.

Syme says that the school were significant in helping the young footballer develop. Being one of the few girls of her age to show an interest in football they allowed her to play with the boys and she said: "every lunchtime I was out kicking a ball about.

"I thought they really helped me to progress even at a very young age."

Many girls have been blocked from playing the game at a young age but Syme says Parkfield were particularly "great".

Emily does however have advice for young girls starting playing football at that age...

It was during the late stages of secondary school Syme says she blossomed into her talents. She only decided she wanted to be a professional footballer at the precipice of 16 despite being told right from an early age how talented she was. "You're better than the boys" had been perpetually lodged in her ear drums as teacher after parent after friend compared her to her male counterparts, but it was only after she started playing for Bristol and England she realised this was not just a pipe dream.

To find out how Syme's career has progressed and to hear more about her views on education, gender and football use the interactive video below. Click on the questions (or swipe on mobile) to ask them to Emily and click the numbers on the bottom of the timeline to move along the stages of her career after she left secondary school.