Sadia Kabeya loves South London, but the England flanker had to tread carefully along her path to Test rugby.
The 22-year-old is already one of the most destructive forces in the global game, and still has the bulk of her career to come.
When Kabeya would turn down time knocking about with friends as a teenager in favour of training and playing rugby, some could not understand.
While others were spending time watching the grittier side of London life unfold, Kabeya was keeping her head down and grafting.
Bryony Cleall taught Kabeya at Croydon’s Harris City Academy, then ended up playing with the England front-row forward three years later.
When Kabeya walks out in England colours against Italy in Parma on Sunday, she will do so knowing that all the disciplined choices she made in her formative years now underpin a Test career of serious significance.
“I had a strong family and friends around me growing up,” Kabeya tells Standard Sport. “And that helped me have the strength of character to say ‘No, I’m going to do this’, in the times when people would ask why I wanted to go to the gym, to go and play rugby.
“I think it’s just as important as having people to tell you that you can achieve anything you set your mind to, that you have people who can help you build that strength of character to be who you want to be and do what you want to do as well.
“It was a lot of hard work and a lot of progression, with lots of ups and downs along the way. But at the same time, it has been a quick progression, if you take a step back it and look at it holistically.
“So when I go into schools and talk to girls I have to be careful of that. It’s been unbelievable to go from being taught by Bryony to being her team-mate and friend in that space of time.
Sometimes I do have pinch-myself moments when I just look around and take it all in
“Sometimes I do have pinch-myself moments when I just look around and take it all in. But then it’s important to focus in on what’s next.
“It’s a huge couple of years again for women’s rugby, and we’ve got to attack that by giving our absolute best to every challenge.”
England will set about chasing a sixth straight Six Nations title, with new boss John Mitchell now fully at the helm after a transitional period.
The Red Roses are fully focused on building towards the World Cup on home soil next year, where the goal is unashamedly to lift the trophy for a third time.
Former England men’s assistant coach Mitchell boasts vast off-field experience from roles all over the globe.
The 59-year-old is determined to drive the Red Roses to new heights now, and Kabeya revealed the Kiwi boss has challenged the side to add extra layers to their game plan.
“We’ve been adding a new way of playing to our armoury, and we’re looking at being more unpredictable in how we go about things,” said Kabeya.
“It’s been really exciting to be part of that change of playing style, while also not going away from what we know works so well for us.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it of course, but also we have new coaches and a lot of new players.
“So it’s about creating and implementing that game plan that suits the coaches and the team.
“And the process of doing that, with the change of coaches, has been really smooth.
“John is very much a player-led coach and it’s been fantastic working with him, and the way he has come in and transitioned in across WXV has been great for us.
“We’ve got a lot of experienced players and we’ve been very successful, but we’re not an old team either.
“Then on top of that we have a lot of new players, fresh faces coming in, and so we are developing and progressing all the time.
“It’s a very strong position to be in, to be part of an organisation that will keep evolving even though the team has done well. It definitely brings the best out of everyone.”
