Natalia negri

I joined Palace at the beginning of the season, after spending the last six months on loan at Charlton. I was at Arsenal from 2013-17, but I joined Charlton at Christmas last year.

Moving from north London to south London was a big change. I’m still young, but I had to move out because the travel was just too far. It was an hour and 45 minutes every day, which was too much. But moving out has been a good experience: I’ve moved in with a teammate which is nice and I’ve got a lot more independence now.

It was actually quite good knowing there were a lot of other new players coming in at the same time. It made me feel like I wasn’t the only ‘new kid on the block,’ per se. It was nice having a lot of new players together all at once and being amongst some familiar faces. I knew a few of the new signings from my time at Charlton, so it was great to have a few familiar faces around amidst all the new signings. .

Fran Kitching, another new goalkeeper, also joined at the same time so it didn’t feel like there was a set goalkeeper when I came in. It was nice to get to know someone who was in the same position as me, and we started at the exact same time. We’ve been on the same wavelength ever since.

As a goalkeeper, I would say I’m quite good with my feet. I have quick feet and I like to use a few different skills when strikers are coming at me in training. It probably helped that I played outfield when I was younger. It meant I gained quite a lot of confidence, and when I have the ball at my feet with players coming at me I like to take them on.

This season has been quite up and down for us. We’ve been at the top of the league, we’ve dropped and it’s been very back and forth. Some days we turn up to games and we look unbeatable, other days we turn up and we don’t quite stick to our process as much. We’re definitely working towards a certain way of playing and now it’s just about all the players trusting the coaches and each other. It’s also about making sure that we’re not just outcome focused, we’re trying to make sure that we’re developing as a team for next season. Nothing comes in a few months.

In the summer just before joining Palace, I was with England Under19s as part of the UEFA Women’s Under-19 European Championships, which was in the Czech Republic. That was probably my best experience of my career so far. I was playing up an age group, which not a lot of people get the opportunity to do. That was the last major tournament I was at, so hopefully we can get there this year.

I absolutely love playing for England. It’s a very different environment to club football, but it’s nice because you get different opinions from coaches and you get different types of coaching. I love being a part of an England camp, it’s one of my favourite things to do.

Structurally it’s different as you’re almost working towards a set month at international level. For example, we’re now working towards the 2022 UEFA Women’s for support on starting your wellbeing journey and to find out more on how Vitality rewards its members for being active.

Under-19 European Championships, so we have camps leading up to it, whereas at club level you’re working towards every weekend. I didn’t get the opportunity to play in the finals, but it was nice to be in the environment, getting the experience and being exposed to tournament football.

Being a young player, it’s hard to be in an environment where you’re not playing as much as everyone else, either domestically or internationally, but you know that you’re young and you’ve got a long career ahead of you. You have to slowly get used to the environment you’re in. Being a professional footballer is not an easy job to do –you need to have the right mindset and trust in the process.

There are 4.36 million of us and we are tomorrow’s female future.

We’re part of every community and come from all social backgrounds, cultures and religions with different skills and abilities. We’re an unstoppable force for good if we’re given the chance. The chance to play football.

We want to play in the school curriculum, at breaktime, after school, at local clubs wherever, whenever we want.

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