Footballer Karen Carney’s teachers have remembered her as an “inspirational team player” who battled to play football with the boys.
The former Lioness turned pundit from Solihull will dance for the Strictly Come Dancing crown on Saturday against fellow contestants George Clarke and Amber Davies.
Anna Spencer and Angela Tucker taught Carney at St Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School in Birmingham and said the determination Carney has shown on Strictly can be traced back to her school football days,
“The thing about Karen is she was an amazing team player, an inspirational girl who just inspired all her peers to work as hard as she did,” Ms Spencer said.
She added Karen was hard working and brilliant in the classroom as well as at sport, playing in the same team as the boys.
“I was in charge of PE at that time, and Karen just led us to some amazing successes [like] we won the Catholic Cup, Karen and 10 lads.”
Before the career successes Ms Tucker remembered it was a struggle.
“It was a battle for Karen, but I think eventually the boys realized, hang on a minute, we’ve got a very impressive, skillful player here, who’s shown by her skill and determination that you can achieve anything.”
Ms Tucker said the determination the nation has seen from Carney on Strictly, can be traced back to her battle of wanting to play football with the boys at school.
“She has attacked this completely out of the comfort zone, and she has tackled this in the way that she has tackled her football career, working really hard, showing great determination and just developing her skills.
“She’s inspiration,” she said.
Carney is England’s third-most capped player, competing at four World Cups, four European Championships and the London Olympics before retiring in 2019.
She also played for Birmingham City, Chelsea and Arsenal.
Carney has made history as the first footballer to make it through to the final.
The final of Strictly Come Dancing is scheduled to air on BBC One at 19:00 GMT on Saturday.
