Lioness Bethany England opens up on mental health struggle and homophobic abuse

ok.co.uk:

Lioness football star Bethany England has opened up about the challenges within the game, from losing confidence on the pitch to hurtful crowds.

The striker, 29, who is captain of Tottenham Hotspur and was part of the England team during the Women's World Cup last summer, said it can be "mentally draining".

Sitting down to speak exclusively to OK!, while her beloved dogs played around in her garden, Bethany spoke about her lifestyle as a professional footballer and the mental health impact.

She shared: "I love my job, but it does have its struggles - it's not just plain sailing. "Don't get me wrong, I love a day off and it's obviously very intense every day, but it also depends on what type of session." Providing an insight into a training day, Bethany told us: "For instance, we have an intensive day, longer sessions out on the pitch and we can be out there up to one or two hours running around. "We have the gym afterwards and meetings so it can be quite fatiguing, not just physically, but by the end of the day mentally, you think 'I'm definitely done now'." When asked how mental health can be affected when on the pitch, Bethany shared: "It can be affected massively, I think even in terms of, if you're struggling with something your confidence is more likely to be low, and then if you're not confident on a pitch, you're not going to play as well because you'll probably be overthinking every scenario. "Usually if you're in a good, happy, confident place, you can - for instance, me as a striker, I could miss a shot and be like 'ah ok it's alright next one', but if I'm in a more difficult place, I might miss that shot and then just completely repeat that shot in my head over and over. "That then takes over the focus of the game, so you're not able to complete what the task is that you're trying to do because you're too busy worrying about what's just happened." Talking further about mental health, Bethany said: "Mental health is a huge thing, not just in sport but in.