Scarborough Rugby Club: Zoe Aldcroft's journey is like a 'fairytale'
It's England versus France tomorrow
It is England versus France in the Women's Rugby World Cup this weekend and Scarborough's own Zoe Aldcroft will be part of the team.
It kicks off at 8am tomorrow (Saturday 15th October).
Zoe grew up playing the sport at Scarborough Rugby Club at Silver Royd in Scalby.
Nigel Wilson is the mini rugby coach there and said: "Zoe Aldcroft started playing rugby when she was about 11 years-old. She used to come and watch her dad, because her dad played rugby for Scarborough in the adult team. When she got to about 11, she came along with her brother Johnny and wanted to try rugby and to be fair, she absolutely loved it.
"At the time in that age, boys and girls played in the same team. Zoe was already quite tall and she went straight in. When she picked up the basic skills of getting the ball and running with it, she was just absolultely one of the team, smashing the lads in the tackle. She loved it.
"She definitely had potential because she was tall and a good runner. She had ball skills that were transferred from playing netball and she also danced and because of that she was good, light on her feet, good at moving around quickly for the ball and looking for spaces to run into.
"It's like a fairytale. You have to pinch yourself sometimes and say 'that's Zoe Aldcroft. That's the girl that we knew.' We have a picture up on the wall that her dad gave us and I got it framed. It's got the number one prominent place in the clubhouse at Scarborough and it says: 'Zoe Aldcroft - World Player of the Year.'
"In about June time, she was in Scarborough just before the World Cup preparations and she gave us a call at the club and said 'do you want me to come up and give a coaching session to all the Scarborough girls?' Just as a you know a one off and she turned up. She spent two hours talking to them, training them, giving them advice and encouraging them. That's just the sort of person that she is."