Behind the Scenes at Bancroft’s: Sasha Kelly – Breaking Barriers
With football season well underway, it’s the perfect time to shine a light on Sasha Kelly, Head of Girls’ Games at the Prep School. A former professional footballer, Sasha joined Bancroft’s in April 2022 and has brought fresh energy and new opportunities to the girls’ games programme.
Her approach to teaching is all about variety and confidence-building. “When I arrived, the girls were playing three sports a year—now they do two each term,” Sasha explains. “I believe in exposing pupils to as many sports as possible, so they can find what they love and develop confidence from an early age.” Sasha oversees everything from planning lessons to organising fixtures and tournaments, ensuring every pupil gets the opportunity to shine.
Sasha brings a wealth of experience to Bancroft’s. Before joining us, she built PE departments from scratch in secondary schools and played football in the Premier League for Tottenham and West Ham, even captaining Tottenham for a season.
Alongside her role at Bancroft’s, she scouts for England with the FA, using her expertise to nurture the next generation of football talent.
I can say to the kids all the time who say to me ‘Miss, I can’t do it,’ I remind them, ‘If I can do it, you can too.’ And that’s been my driving force.”
Her football journey began in boys’ teams, as there were no girls’ teams at the time. After being scouted in the park one day, she joined her first girls’ team, EC1, and her career took off from there. By 16, she was playing for Tottenham while balancing her studies and training. “Football gave me a new identity and helped me overcome any negative comments I faced growing up because of my disability,” Sasha shares. “Now, I tell the kids, ‘If I can do it, so can you.’”
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At Bancroft’s, Sasha is dedicated to ensuring sport is accessible to all pupils.“One of the best things about Bancroft’s is that every child takes part in a fixture,” she says. She’s also introduced ability-based teams, moving away from the traditional A, B, C teams in favour of coloured groups, fostering inclusivity and confidence.
Her pride in the girls’ progress is clear, especially in football. “We’ve got around 60 girls turning up to our Monday football club, and watching them play—really play, with skill and control—fills me with pride. We’ve even got our first cup game coming up, which is so exciting.”
For me, growing up, I had a lot of “oh, she can’t play football”, and I have proven the boys wrong.
It was a pleasure speaking with Sasha and hearing about her role at Bancroft’s, her impressive career, and her vision for the future of sports at the school.
