Michaela Staniford

Michaela is a fine young athlete and became England’s youngest international player when she made her debut aged just 18 in 2005. A year after her debut she went on to help England finish second in the IRB Rugby World Cup in Canada and has gone on to achieve a total of 35 caps at just 22 years of age. Also a member of the England 7s squad this season also, she was an integral part of the World Cup squad which won the plate in Dubai in march 2009. She plays her club rugby for London Wasps ladies.

Unlike men's rugby at England level the women players have jobs and make major sacrifices to find time around a career for day to day training, matches and tours. Michaela teaches PE at Rickmansworth school and wants to support TRF as she believes it will increase the profile of women's rugby and female sports participation in general. If she can be very fit as a consequence of her rugby training and play rugby to such a high level whilst retaining her femininity many other women can surely do likewise if involved in the TRF programme.

Click here to read some more about Michaela.