Football’s girl wonder Grace Smith has just return from Los Angeles where she has been part of the England U17 women’s football team playing in a four team friendly tournament against Japan, South Korea and hosts USA.

Grace, from Bridgnorth, Shropshire, is a former pupil of the town’s Oldbury Wells school and is now studying A levels at King Edwards college in Stourbridge. She plays in both midfield and defence and was delighted to play the full 90 minutes against South Korea at centre back. The team were unlucky to lose the game 2 v 0 but she put in a strong performance.

Grace said, ‘It was absolutely amazing to be in LA with the team, and I feel very fortunate to have had this unbelievable experience where we tested ourselves against 3 of the top teams in the world.

My favourite moment had to be the Korea game, due to the fact it was my first international start so walking out with the team for the first time and singing the national anthem was a very special moment and made me feel very proud to be playing for my country! It was a real honour to represent England again.”

It’s a fantastic team and we have a big year coming up with both the European and World Cups in my age group this year. I will continue to train hard make sure I put myself in the best position to be selected. California was amazing, although we didn’t have a lot of time between games, we did get the chance to go to meet Steven Gerrard who is playing for LA Galaxy and to get to the beach for a swim!”

The England u17 team return to Bisham Abbey in 3 weeks’ time to prepare for qualification for the U17 European Cup competition in Belgrade where they will play in a group containing Belgium, Iceland and Serbia. In the meantime, she returns to domestic duty with her club, Aston Villa, this weekend with a game against Manchester city.

Go Grace – Bridgnorth is so proud of you.