She is somewhat a veteran in the FA Women's Premier League having completed four seasons in the division for her club side the Southampton Saints. Incredibly, however, Shelly Cox is still only 18, making her debut for the Saints at just 14. Honing her skills as a youngster, playing with the lads on her road before joining Wyvern Under-9s Boys Team, then Red Star and Solent Stars before joining the Southampton Centre of Excellence. Her undoubted talent led to Shelly being amongst the first intake at The F.A.'s National Player Development Centre and a part of the recent Under-19s England team that performed so successfully in the European Championships in Sweden. She is known by her teammates as 'goggles' and possesses a cultured left foot that can see her play either in defence or midfield.
On Saturday, she flew out to Canada with the rest of the Under-19s squad in preparation for the inaugural World Championships, where they play favourites USA in their first game on Saturday August 17th. Shelly spoke to Ben Rice prior to meeting up with her England team-mates to discuss life at Southampton, her year at the NPDC and her free-kick that helped England Under-19s to a famous victory against Norway in the European Championships.

How have you enjoyed your development at Southampton Saints?

It has been good, definitely. I've played with them in the Premier League since I was 14. At the beginning I played as a striker but they then found that I wasn't coping because I wasn't strong enough at that age so they turned me into a left winger.

What was it like playing in the brand new 35,000-capacity Friends Provident Stadium in Southampton?

We played there against Arsenal last season. There were over 4,000 people there and it was a good experience. It wasn’t the biggest crowd I have played in front of though. I played at Wembley when I think there was about 7,000 people there. It was for England Under-16s against Scotland and we won 5-0

Are you confident that the Saints will do well this season?

Yeah, definitely. We have brought in a few good signings, Jess Wright and Toni-Anne Wayne who both play for the England Under-19s so it looks good.

You were part of the first intake at the National Player Development Centre. How has your first year been? 

It has been different, it has been hard work but I have definitely seen improvements in my game. My fitness has improved. It has been really hard trying to combine my second year of A-Levels with the football.

You were part of the very successful Under-19 England squad which travelled to Sweden in May. Did you enjoy the big tournament experience?

It was a brilliant experience. It was my first real trip away with England apart from a qualifier but this was the European Championships and we did very well. I managed to score a free-kick as well, which was amazing. I didn't know what to do so I just ran! It was brilliant. There were two of us who were designated free-kick takers and I'm left footed and the other player (Kelly McDougall) was right footed. It was on the side for a left footer to take but we were both saying, 'I want it'. I ended up taking it which was good.

How did you feel when the envelope came through your door from The FA informing you that you had been included in the squad that will travel to Canada for the Under-19 World Championships?

I was shaking! I was shaking when I was opening the letter. It is really good and I can't wait! I think the USA is going to be a tough match. With the reputation they have got, they will be a good team. That is going to be our first game too, so it’s going to be hard but I think that we will definitely give them a good game. The top two in each group and two best third placed teams progress so we have a good chance of going through. The team are really excited about being in the tournament and we think we can do well. In fact, we all think that we can win the tournament if we perform to our best abilities.

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