Leah Williamson will lead out the Lionesses today when England kick off their first match of the Euros in the opening contest against Austria at Old Trafford.
Appointed the permanent England captain in April by team manager Sarina Wiegman, Williamson will wear the armband for the home nation's first clash of the Euros.
The 25-year-old’s medals cabinet is crammed full of domestic awards, but the Arsenal player will be hoping to secure international success at the month-long football tournament.
The defender is a die-hard for the sport, a fact shown not only via her successful football career but also the lengths her family have gone to in ensuring she could represent her club and country at every turn.
Leah Williamson was once Arsenal mascot
When Leah Williamson was nine, her family packed up their holiday in Cornwall so she could take her place as a mascot for the Arsenal men’s team in September 2006.
She explained how, despite being deep in the south-west at the time, her mother drove her 215 miles so she could be part of an away league cup match against West Brom at The Hawthorns.
Williamson told the Arsecast podcast in February 2019: “At the time, I was at the academy, it was my first year at Arsenal’s centre of excellence, and they picked one of us to be a mascot.
“They called my mum and said, ‘Does Leah want to be a mascot tonight?’ I was a junior Gunner as well, so obviously you’re sitting there hoping for your day to get selected and then mine came along.
“But we were actually holidaying in Bude in Cornwall. So, it was hilarious - we drove from Cornwall to the game just so I could be a mascot and went back and had the holiday at the end of it.
"It was really nice, being an Arsenal fan growing up - it was special for me.”
Williamson now laughs at a picture of her and former Arsenal winger Theo Walcott from the game, with the former England men's winger looking fresh-faced at age 17.
Walcott was in his debut season for the club following his switch from Southampton for £5million that summer.
A frequent mascot
Williamson got the knack for being a mascot after that, making appearances as a child accompanying the Arsenal and England women’s teams later on.
A year later, when aged 10, Williamson was the match day mascot during a women’s Champions League match, with the Arsenal team going on to lift the trophy that season.
She ended up walking out with many players who would become her team-mates, including retired-star-turned-broadcaster Alex Scott.
She has a signed photo of one of her idols, Kelly Smith, from the time she was a mascot for England, with Smith - England’s second highest scorer - telling her to “dream big” in a motivational autograph.
The now-England skipper, in an interview with The Telegraph in 2019, said: “I was very lucky because I actually ended up playing with all of my role models in women’s football: Kelly Smith, Alex Scott, Rachel Yankey, Emma Burn.
“I followed the same path as Alex and now I’ve taken over as team DJ!”
