It’s a remarkable achievement to be talented enough to excel at a sport. To start, make your way through the ranks, overcome injury, be let down and then finally make it – not many reach that final point. Imagine having the talent, determination and willpower to do it twice.
Reading defender, Deanna Cooper, is now well known for her numerous years at Chelsea Women’s FC and career in the Women’s Super League however, the 29-year-old has another sporting career which she side lined to pursue her football dream - cricket.
Just like the majority of female sports stars, cricket started through her brother’s love for the game. “I started playing because my brother played” she says. “He played for our local boys team and so I used to go with my dad down to just kind of watch him train and then all of a sudden, as you do, you end up joining in.”
Her cricketing career accelerated quickly as she went from watching her brother in the nets to playing alongside Charlotte Edwards and Lydia Greenway. “I was 13 years old when I started training with the Kent senior women's team and obviously at that time pretty much all of them played for the England team so they were kind of my role models growing up. Playing on the same team with Charlotte Edwards, Lydia Greenway those sort of players was just incredible”
The Kent team Deanna played it was home to a golden generation. Boasting players such as the previously mentioned Charlotte Edward and Lydia Greenway as well as the additions of Tammy Beaumont, Laura Marsh, Tash Farrant and Alice Davidson-Richards. They became serial winners and serial Buckingham Palace visitors!
“We had a very good county squad and when you won the national championships you get to go to Buckingham Palace because Prince Philip was the patron of the cricket tournament” she explained. “Having the experience of going for tea and to receive your medal from someone like Prince Philip was an unbelievable experience”.
Parallel to this, Deanna was also developing as a talented footballer. “I probably started playing football a little bit before I started playing cricket – also for a boys team but the whole way through they kind of just matched up.”
“It got to a point where it was quite difficult for me to do both at the same time. At one point I was in the England cricket Academy and also playing for England U19 football so it was just kind of a bit crazy to be honest”
With a packed schedule and the realisation that neither, at the time, was a career option, a decision between the two sports had to be made – though that did not make it an easy one.
“I was always more talented at cricket but my love was with football so it was a bit of a strange one” Deanna explained. It was quite a long decision-making process that kind of got made for me in the end but it was a long process and it wasn't always easy at times”.
As mentioned, neither sport was a full-time career option. Central contracts had just been introduced to 18 members of the England women’s national cricket team but professionalism was far from reaching any cricket below international level.
“Playing cricket growing up, it was all amateur so I never actually played any cricket where I got paid at all. It did play a little bit of a part [in her decision] but at the time when I finished playing cricket, I still wasn't playing professional football so it wasn't really a decision maker”.
Despite her focus being on football now, Cooper is always keeping an eye on where women’s cricket is at. “It's good to see where the cricket game is now though that excites me a lot” she explains. “For years and years we all just played cricket as a hobby and it was an achievement to play for your county but that's kind of all it was.”
“It wasn't your job whereas now the fact that you've got the Hundred where teams are paying players to play women's cricket - it blows my mind the fact that it's come that far in such a short space of time”.
‘I can't honestly explain enough like how privileged I feel’
Deanna’s decision to focus of football paid off as she signed with Chelsea Women’s FC in 2017, making the move from London Bees. Now, a regular for Reading Women’s FC, she is continuing her career as a professional footballer.
“I still don't quite believe that this is my job!” she said. “It does add that little bit of pressure and sometimes that can become a lot but it's also such a privilege to do what we do. I can't honestly explain enough like how privileged I feel because I've been through that stage where I wasn't getting anything, and it was just a hobby both football and cricket and now being paid to play sport is just incredible”.
Two standout leaders within women’s sport are Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes and Southern Vipers, Mumbai Indians, Sydney Sixers and Southern brave coach, Charlotte Edwards. Deanna has had the opportunity to work under their leadership in her two careers.
“I saw them the two of them in very different lights” Cooper noted. “Charlotte Edwards was my captain so she was a teammate and my captain – she could also be brutal at times, she had very high standards but that's why her teams are always so successful”
“I suppose that's exactly the same with Emma Hayes that her standards are so high. She expects her teams to win and so did Charlotte Edwards and if they didn't she wanted to know why. I just think with managers they can have different approaches to things but I think a lot of the ones that reach the levels of Charlotte Edwards and Emma Hayes are because of the standards they set for themselves and for the team that are playing around them and I think that's really important when it comes to success”.
Those high standards became clear in a six-part documentary made by DAZN entitled ‘One Team, One Dream’ about Chelsea Women’s FC from 2019-2021. It offered behind the scenes access to the dressing room, player meetings and some key moments in Deanna’s career.
“What I will say about that [documentary] is that that was filmed over an 18-month period and I think I only cried four times but they just happened to get all four times on camera!”
“I found a bit cringy because obviously it came out two years after we'd filmed it so a lot had changed since then and I was in a very different place but it's a bit strange looking back. It's great to have those memories, it reminds me of how much I loved it there. Yes there were days and there were times things happened, in any job I think that happens”.
“It was quite cool watching it back and it's also quite nice to hear how staff are talking about you when you're not there because obviously as athletes you don't ever get to hear that. There was an interview on there where I was in the room and they was talking to me and then I go out the room and then they carry on talking and I didn't hear that so to hear them talk about me in the light that they did was actually really nice”
In 2020, after struggling to get game time at Chelsea, Cooper made the move to WSL side Reading.
“I absolutely loved my time at Chelsea and the girls there were incredible, the staff were amazing but I wanted to play and that's what it came down to at the end of the day. Your career is short especially in something like football”.
‘There's a lot more eyes on the women's football games’
Since Deanna first became professional, the women’s game has skyrocketed and in the past seven months since the Lionesses won the Euros on home soil, the game has changed forever.
“I feel especially since the Euros there's been a massive increase in viewership both on TV and in the crowds” Deanna understands. “There's a lot more eyes on the women's football games and it comes with a lot of things that we haven't had to deal with in the past”
“People become more opinionated about what they're watching so people are getting more criticism. Especially on social media, players just aren't used to it”
‘She was just a massive inspiration for everyone’
As alluded to, the Reading defender has played alongside some of the most well-known sportswomen in both her sports.
“Charlotte Edwards is by far the biggest star I've ever play with when she was in her prime” she mentions. “She opened the batting and I'm pretty sure she got five 100s and it was very rare that passed number three got to bat – it was ridiculous”.
“She was so unorthodox but her timing was impeccable and if she was at the crease you just thought you were going to win and so I've not come across many other cricketers like that. She was just a massive inspiration for everyone that was playing underneath her”.
Similarity in football, Cooper has played with some of her heroes. She laughs, perhaps out of slight embarrassment over recalling a story with her childhood hero, Fara Williams. Williams is the most capped Lioness with 172 caps to her name. The midfielder was in her penultimate year at Reading when Deanna arrived.
“One of my heroes has always been Fara Williams since I was younger. When I joined Reading she was playing for Reading and for the first two weeks I was so nervous that I didn't speak to her. I was 27 years old and I couldn't speak to her because I was so nervous”
“I actually did another podcast for someone else and she ended up listening to it and in it, I was talking about how I used to have a poster of her on my wall and how this one time I tried to get this poster signed because I went to an England game and she just didn't see me. For secret Santa that year she gave me a signed picture of herself – how embarrassing is that?”
Although she may find it slightly embarrassing, she admits that she still has the signed picture. Former Chelsea midfielder and South Korean legend Ji So-yun is another player that Cooper praises.
“Ji So-yun can just change the game, also from Chelsea because she's another one, if she wanted to turn it on, no one was getting anywhere near her but I played with some incredible footballers”.
‘You have to treat an athlete as a person before you treat them as an athlete’
While the sports are at very different places in terms of professionalism, there is plenty they can learn from each other.
“Cricket is in the very early stages of becoming professional - women's football have been doing it for a long time now. Looking after the players as individuals is something that is really key. You have to treat an athlete as a person before you treat them as an athlete especially when they're changing into this professional environment that they may not be used to. It can be quite overwhelming at times”.
‘It can be a huge bubble and then at some point unfortunately bubbles pop’
A concern that many players in Deanna’s generation have is about the next generation of players coming through. With the prospect of a professional contract as soon as a player turns 18, the temptation is to fully focus on football.
“It's a crazy world because if you think about it when I first broke into the senior team, I was 13 years old. At that point I was nowhere near ready to be a professional athlete. I was good enough Cricket wise but I had no idea about the professional world and even growing up when I did, I missed a lot of school. I was quite lucky that my parents were quite strict in regards to what I did so that I went on to do University and all that sort of stuff”
“I even see it with some of the youngsters that we have at Reading. They've come out of school and they just don't quite get the real world. There are a few people that do their degree whilst they're playing but it can be a huge bubble and then at some point unfortunately bubbles pop. Then you have to deal with the real world and if you haven't had that nurturing when you're younger then you're going to be a bit stuck later on in life”.
Cooper’s of a generation where education and another career was necessary which has set her up well for a life after football.
“I'm only 29 so I'm hoping to play for a little bit. I've also said that once I've finished playing football I will give cricket a little bit of another go. I’ve got my degree in sports science, I worked in a school for two and a half years so teaching has always been on the agenda. I've always wanted to be involved in sport so I've also thought about doing a physiotherapy Masters as well”.
For now, the focus is on Reading and Deanna will be facing her former club and current title holders, Chelsea, in the FA Cup. Their hopes will be set on Wembley but it will be no easy feat.
“We got the short straw playing probably the most in-form team in the league right now in the next round of the FA Cup. We did it last year before Christmas, we've beat them one nil which was a bit of a shock so we've done it before and we also gave them a pretty good run in the game before Christmas. We lost three two but one of their goals was offside so it can be done. They've obviously got a really busy period as well. They've got seven games in a month so they're going to be rotating and stuff like that so you never know, upsets, that's what the FA Cup's all about”.
Whether she returns to cricket after football, or focuses on another path, Deanna has a unique perspective on the growth of women's sports. This interview in full is available as a podcast here:
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