"I have more experience now. I have travelled, I have played in England, where I was happy, but I am delighted to be able to come back and continue my career here."

"When it came to deciding where I should apply for university, the reputation of LJMU’s sports offering was second to none and was something I was keen to experience and be a part of. I was aware that the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences had a history of nurturing world-class athletes and I knew I’d be getting an excellent quality of teaching and support."

"Under participation in women’s sport is a global concern. There are plenty of factors that contribute to the problem – a lack of facilities, a lack of real and genuine opportunities, and a perception of being less valued than our male counterparts."

"By accepting that there are barriers to women’s participation in particular, we are accepting that there isn’t a level playing field. That’s not a sustainable position to be in."

"Some of us play sport as a living, and we’re really privileged to do so. But for the majority of people across the world, sport is a vehicle for keeping healthy and active."

"We just want to have the same conditions and structures as men. Of course, we generate less revenue, but if people don't want to invest more in us, they are not going to see higher returns."

"But the pay gap between male football players and women players is so unbelievably huge that it is unfair."

"It is important to me to treat everybody equally, to be able to stand there personally in difficult situations and have confidence in my abilities, and to be able to use my knowledge and experience to support my team."

"In my experience as a football player, the media often make difficult situations more difficult."

"The fact that we are able to get people excited about women’s football is probably our greatest success."

"For me, success is when I feel happy and free from any pressure."

"I think maybe people look at the results, but I think we’ve definitely improved. What we’re doing on the ball, what Pedro is encouraging us to do – close connections – everyone feels confident now."

"We’re definitely playing better and hopefully, we need a big win and hopefully that happens against Belgium."

"We’ve got players that can come on now and change the game. And we believe that our team’s very talented, it’s a close knit group and it’s amazing to be a part of"

"I think for a couple of days I really thought I’ve worked so hard all season, and it’s just not meant to be, but we had some really important games at Manchester United, obviously fighting for the league title and the FA Cup final."

"To be honest when I found out I wasn’t picked for the April camp I actually thought that was my World Cup dream over."

"I think you never want to be playing on someone else’s misfortune, but luckily we found out that Keira’s injury obviously wasn’t too long-term or serious, so that is brilliant news."

"I was really proud to be out there and to be called upon was great. When [the coaching staff] shouted me, I thought ‘Oh wow. There’s a lot I need to remember over the next couple of minutes!’ I was just trying to soak it all in. It was amazing to get out there."

"I think you always need some timing and luck in your career, I think that did come together [with] more game time, scoring some goals and I just felt like I was in a good place."

"Before February, I hadn’t really thought about an international call-up for a number of years, to be quite honest, Not that I didn’t want it to happen, but I just thought maybe that time had been and gone."

"The teaching curriculum on the Sport and Exercise Science course was also massively applicable to my career. Everything I learned in lectures could be related back to myself as an athlete. It also provided me with a valuable opportunity to continue to progress in my career, while still obtaining an education. It was certainly a challenging experience but it’s one that definitely enabled me to better myself as a person, improve my time-management skills and further develop qualities that I hope will continue to set me up for future success."

"It’s been massively beneficial for me to be able to play football professionally and still continue with my studies at the same time. The support the university has given me has been great, in particular from my tutors and the rest of the Sports Scholarship staff who really go out of their way to guide you. In my case, being part of the Scholarship scheme and getting so much guidance from staff definitely helped me to strike the right balance, and commit to both my studies and professional endeavors to the very best of my ability."

"I just have to put in all the hard work and do what I know I’m capable of, and it will be an absolute honour to make history, once again, for Barbados, and make them proud."

"I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it. I’m very set on that. And I believe it. I think once you believe in something, it’s achievable."

"It’s not going to be an easy road for me, because it’s quite difficult for single nation [riders]"

"It started off with me and my mum, She was my bank. She was my chauffeur, mechanic, manager, and she didn’t even know the difference between the front wheel and back wheel."

"Being part of the Surrey Storm family is phenomenal, apart from moulding me as a player, a lot has also changed socially and at home"

"There is so much more freedom and enjoyment in a very different way. When you make your passion your job, it’s difficult to stay in love with that. This stage has brought it all back, fulfilled me again"

"They’re climbing within their comfort zone, and mitigating these risks, and choosing to do something that keeps them fit, active, healthy and happy."

"Climbing is such a natural thing as human beings. It’s part of how we used to survive"

"I still feel that love and passion for it and when you've got teams like the Black Ferns Sevens girls and the Black Ferns 15s girls, they make it so enjoyable that you really don't want to leave. You want to ride until the wheels fall off!"

"For my Dad to go and play for the All Blacks, he was a dad at 16, married at 17, coming from a really small town. He never really gave up on his dreams and that's what my parents have always instilled in me. Anything is possible if you work hard, dream big and chase everything."

"The greatest thing that my parents ever gave me was to dream big and that nothing is impossible."

"To me, netball is life and everything else because everything that I have in this life is motivated or influenced by the sport"

"But I have great people around me in the Fever and the Diamonds’ environment, so it doesn’t really pop its head up too often. And when it does, I focus on three things which I believe are strengths – my footwork, my energy and my voice, and that brings me back to the present."

"I do overthink things, and I’ve found it’s quite common for elite athletes and for females. We want to be perfect, and there’s no such thing. That tendency to overthink makes my self-confidence waver, so I’ve had to learn to leave that alone."

"But when I step onto that court, I have to put a persona on. I am competitive, a little bit stubborn, I love to win, and I love the teams I play for. I will absolutely go to the nth degree to help us get across the line"

"I can be my really introverted, calm self off the court, have lots of empathy and really care about people, and that is who I am at my core."

"It is about taking that experience and telling the next player: ‘Hey, It is just another match, focus on our goals, focus on what is important.’ If you keep focusing on what your job is and what you do next, you will forget about everything else."

"The more games you play, the less stress and nerves become. The pressure will always still be there"

"Whenever I step on court, I play my heart out and enjoy the game and whatever comes out of it is a bonus…this is what I did in both World Cup appearances,"

"So, it is just another tournament; whether it is the Commonwealth Games or a World Cup, the name really doesn’t matter. It is just a matter of playing against 16 countries and trying to be the best."

"It is very overwhelming to play in your first world cup, but for me, it is the third one."

"This time, I told them (Gems) to get out there, play to enjoy the game and whatever the result is, be ready to work harder again tomorrow."

"I think finding your sound or what makes you unique is always the hardest part because there are a million artists around the world. Even in Ghana, there are thousands, so what will make you stand out? It’s like at every point, you find a different type or different side of you."

"I for do what I can till I’m gone You touch me, you touch fire Let no man ever touch my crown."

"I love Cina Soul. I put her on my shows because I want to give her the kind of exposure that I didn't get when I was starting my music career with the kind of music that I was doing. And she has a beautiful talent that I think is gonna grow to become amazing and I'm here to support her as much as I can..."

"Cina is a nice person and I like her vibe and I'll spend the whole day with her and even more. She is talented, I like her vibe and performance on stage and I'm a big fan."

"I think she (Cina Soul) is actually extremely good. Soul’s voice is like something that can represent us (Ghana) on an international scale. I know she’s gonna get there. I don’t know which song [will take her there]. When I saw King Promise I knew. But I didn’t know how. But I knew he was gonna be huge. And Cina Soul has that approach."

"It's hard to penetrate the Ghanaian music market, your music probably won't sell, people wouldn't like you, some people who have grown in the industry will tell you that your music won't sell. Sometimes these comments can break you and you tend to ask yourself would this music that I'm doing yield results at all...Even people would sometimes sabotage you."