Leah Williamson wears a tracksuit hood over her head.
She squeezes it to cover most of her face and grimaces slightly at the thought of leaving the room, in which, for the past hour, she’s been cheerful and insightful – and a bit blasphemous – company.
The England captain returns to St Albans, a town close to her club’s training base, where she is a familiar face.
In fact, she is now a recognizable face in most of the country. You have a strong feeling that this is not an experience she relishes.
“Do you want the honest answer?” was his response minutes earlier when asked how his life had changed in recent months, before deciding not to open up.
But looking back at England’s historic win at the Euros last summer for the BBC documentary Lionesses: Champions of Europe is something that still brings a smile to his face.
“I was a bet as captain”
Six months ago, the Arsenal defender was an unknown outside of women’s football circles.
She was set to lead England to a European Championship on home soil, all too aware of her status as a rookie international captain.
“Coming into the tournament, I was aware of the narrative surrounding this new captaincy and ‘she’s never done it before, she’s never played in a major tournament before,'” she said.
“I had six minutes under my belt from the World Cup, so I was aware…it was a gamble, I guess you could say.”
The tournament started against Austria in a sold-out Old Trafford.
One gamble Williamson wasn’t ready to take was to open her eyes as she and her teammates lined up for the pre-game national anthem.
“Our families were directly in front of us and I saw my plight right away,” she says. “And just their faces, I could almost see them screw up. You have to think my parents never saw me start an international game in a tournament and all of a sudden they’re watching me lead the team as well.
“I was thinking ‘there’s no way I’m going to get out of this if I can see them crying’. I didn’t trust them. So I just closed my eyes. I would have been in absolute pieces.”
Tears averted, England put together enough performance to beat Austria 1-0 with a goal from Beth Mead.
The rest of the group stages saw them beat former two-time European champions Norway 8-0 and beat Northern Ireland 4-0. On the pitch, England’s – and Williamson’s – progress has been smooth.
Williamson, mustering the defense with calm authority, had yet to make a tackle. It’s a trend that continued throughout the tournament. Incredibly, Williamson has won the ball more than any other player in the tournament – 56 times without making a single tackle.
This has led to comparisons with Italian great Paolo Maldini, who once said: “If I have to tackle, I’ve already made a mistake.”
And Williamson says she felt empowered by what she saw as her own destiny.
“I don’t know if I would go so far as to say a spiritual person, but I believe there is some kind of plan and things are written for us and we kind of choose between one or two paths,” says -she. . “But most are kind of ready and we just have to be bold enough to do it.
“That guidance – which some people believe, some don’t – I felt like I had it with me.”
Such conviction proved useful in the round of 16.
With 10 minutes remaining in their quarter-final against Spain, the Lionesses were leading 1-0 and were largely outplayed.
Goalkeeper Mary Earps is adamant in the documentary that, despite England trailing, she “didn’t think we were meant to go home; we were meant to bring it home”.
It’s a sentiment shared by Williamson.
“That’s not how it ends, like it can’t be how it ends,” she recalled. “It was quite a nice emotion to experience. I was so confident that we were going to turn things around and everything would be fine.”
Ella Toone’s equalizer and Georgia Stanway’s winner ensured that was the case.
Williamson’s Letter to Parents
A 4-0 demolition of Sweden in the semi-finals sent the Lionesses into their first major tournament final since Euro 2009, making this summer’s Wembley showpiece the hottest ticket in town.
Prior to each match in the tournament, players’ families received their allocation of tickets from FA staff. Before the finale, Williamson asked if she could add a personal touch to her parents.
“I said ‘do you mind if I just write a note to my mum and dad and can you put it in their notes?'” she said.
“It was a pretty heartfelt note like, ‘I’m so proud to be part of the family you’ve created and I hope you’re just as proud of me today. Because every step I take on the football field is in your shoes and standing on your shoulders.
“After the final, we have a big party. Mom immediately gave me a hug and said ‘you made me cry with your word’.
“I said to dad, ‘did you get my note?’ because he hadn’t said anything – and he’s not that cold. He said ‘what grade?’
“He’s the only man I know who keeps the envelopes of things that have already been opened – he took the envelope out.
“I said ‘it’s in there’, he pulled it out and read it in hindsight, which was a really good time. That look on his face…what I had written was almost hopeful and then actually, we were there and I had a medal around my neck, dancing with the trophy.
“It was a perfect ending to it all.”
