Jenna's journey to the top flight

Turn the clock back to 19 April, 2017, and Jenna Schillaci could have been forgiven for thinking footballing life simply wasn’t going to get any better.

Trophy in hand, captain Jenna had just led her team to the FA Women’s Premier League South title on their first appearance at White Hart Lane. It was the final season of our famous old stadium, indeed, the final month, and Jenna, a Spurs fan, knew all about the enormity of the occasion and the team’s achievement.

“The way it panned out that season, to go to White Hart Lane and play our first match there, winning the league, it was unbelievable,” she reflected at Hotspur Way this week. “Could it get any better? It has and it is – and looking ahead, maybe in 10 years’ time it will be even better.”

It has, indeed. A month after that ‘glory, glory night’, the team secured promotion to the second tier of the game for the first time, Women’s Super League 2. Renamed the Women’s Championship for the start of 2018/19, Spurs Women completed their rise to the top by finishing second last season.

That rise has been rapid. Plying their trade in the FA South-East Combination less than 10 years ago, we won that division in 2011 and built to more success – three cups in 2016 and two cups, the FA Women’s Premier League South title and subsequent play-off glory in 2017. Two years later and we are preparing to make our Barclays FA Women’s Super League debut against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Jenna, 35, has been there every step of the way. A leader from her role in central defence, she’s lifted eight trophies as captain in 11 years at the club. There will be few prouder women in SW6 on Sunday.

“I always dreamed, but never in a million years believed this would actually happen,” she said, typically modestly. “When I started playing, women’s football was nowhere near as big as it is now. There was no such thing as a professional women’s league.

“To be here now, preparing for our first season in the Women’s Super League, is amazing, a dream come true.

“It’s been a journey and now we’re in the best league in the country, playing against some of the best players in the world. Training has increased in intensity, physicality, in every aspect. The Club has recruited really well and we’ve got some quality, experienced players. It’s been a good preparation, everyone is gelling and it’s come together nicely.

“What a start to our life in the WSL! It’s going to be amazing. To play at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, one of the best teams in England, probably in front of the biggest crowd many of us have experienced, we can’t wait. I’m so proud to captain this group of amazing players in our first season in the WSL.”