As if Ryan Reynolds setting foot in Wrexham wasn’t enough, the Canadian football gods have gifted us with another of its finest creative talents – the brilliant Laura-Ashley Zonneveld (pictured above, left). Zonnie was a rock in many senses on the Devs team this year and picked up multiple POTM awards along the way. It wasn’t long until she was scouted by the Reserves also. Here, Zonnie recaps on her season with the Devs team.
Hey Clapton community, I am Zonnie and I played for the WNB Development team this past season, with a few games playing for the WNB Reserves team too. I was invited by another Clapton player, John, to a charity tournament at OSD last summer where I met Ellie and Julie. They approached me about playing more and coming out to an Open Access session to feel it out, and well, the rest is history.
Before Clapton, I was playing for my home town club back in Canada: Nanaimo United Football Club (NUFC). Last time I played football (and yes, I would normally say soccer, but you lot have converted me) was Feb 2023, and with a calf injury still healing, I hadn’t thought about joining any teams when I moved to London. Thanks to Ellie, Julie, and John’s encouragement, I decided to give it a go for the 2024-2025 season. And what a season it was!
Every training session was a learning experience either because Ellie wanted to try something new, I said something too Canadian and had to translate, or new players came out! Overall, the season was a massive success not because we came out winners, but for becoming stronger and better as a whole, hungrier for more and wanting to prove to the coaches, fans, our team, and most importantly ourselves how great we are.
For me, the biggest highlight of the season was all the laughing and growth the team as a whole and individually went through. We showed up for each other, fed off the positive energy, and just enjoyed the game. From the coaches right down to the fans, everyone was very supportive of each other on and off the pitch. Whether we walked off the pitch winners or not, we were usually smiling and thinking about the post-match drinks we would be having together.
Now, as mentioned before, I would say something that I thought was globally known, but alas was not. My Canadian showed more often than not, and here are some examples:
- “Pick up your check!” = defend your player
- “Push!” = drive with the ball forward
- “Step!” = step the defensive line up
- “Open and go” = don’t stop the ball, open your hips and move with the ball
- “Reset” = play the way you’re facing or return to back line and start again
- “Feet!” = ball is at your feet still