Liliana Almeida Leyton Orient FC Women’s player case study

Liliana Almedia is an East Londoner with local connections to the Kings Park ward for the past twenty years. She was born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal and during her early years Liliana developed a love for football whilst playing out with her older cousins. Being both the youngest and the only girl there wasn’t much room for anything else, but as we can see from where she is today her athletic abilities went on to match her passion. 

Have you always been an active person and how did you get into sport? 

Yes, growing up in Portugal I lived with my grandmother and older cousins when my mother and aunts came to the UK before they brought us over.  As a little girl of 3 or 4 I was always outside playing football 24/7 with the older boys. It's crazy, I was really young to be just playing out by myself and you wouldn’t see such little kids playing out here like that. 

When I arrived in the UK, on the first Saturday morning my step dad took me to an Athletics team in Woodford, which I continued for quite a few years. In primary school I was one of the only girls playing football, but I still used to win loads of trophies and medals, over the boys, because I was really good to be fair. 

I went to Lammas School, which is a sports college in Leytonstone where I took up basketball, football and netball. I was naturally athletic and quick, I would pick up sports that I didn’t know the rules of and enjoyed being outside. Lot of my friends were on the sports teams, which made it easy to do it all the time.

After sixth form I went to America for 2 years and Canada for 1 year to play basketball. When I came back to the UK I actually stopped playing basketball, because I fell out of love with the sport. In America they take things very seriously, which is understandable as they are paying for you to go through university, but essentially it becomes a job which was hard for me. I’ve always played sports for the love and enjoyment rather than the money. I picked up football again and started playing for fun. I have had great experiences, which I am really grateful for and I don’t regret any of the opportunities sport has given me. I have been able to travel and think every young person should have the opportunity to pick up a sport and see where it takes them.  

What do you do to keep healthy and active? 

My focus is playing football now and I don’t play basketball anymore. I'd like to say I go to the gym, but since lockdown I’ve just been doing home workouts instead and playing football with male friends at power leagues for fun, between training. I fit my training and games around my three jobs. It's a busy schedule, but I always make time for things I need to. I still make time to have fun and I like to travel a lot, which I was doing before covid. 

Now the regulations have changed and you can return to the gym, is there anything holding you back? 

I didn’t like going to the gym by myself before, as you don’t get many women working out there and I found it more enjoyable to go with friends. Since covid it’s harder to match schedules especially whilst people are working from home, so I tend to do home workouts and use the weights I have at home. 

I think the positive things that people have got from covid is not having to pay for gym membership, being able to workout either at home or outside, and saving money on commuting or traveling to a place of exercise. 

Tell us a bit about your new team and how you got the place on the squad? 

So I am now a member of the Leyton Orient women’s team. My old sixth form strength and conditioning coach was connected to the Leyton Orient coach. Once I came back from America, after playing basketball, I was looking to get back into football again. Pre-covid my old coach made the introduction, but I didn’t hear anything for about 18 months due to the pandemic and now here I am. 

What sage advice would you give our residents? 

Encourage people who have children and young people themselves to get into a sport as early as possible, because it is easier to pick up skills when you're younger. Even as an adult just do what you love and have fun with it, it’s not so much about the money or the technicality of it and the more you enjoy yourself, the better your performance will be. Starting from a young age conditions your body and mind to be active. 

Find out more information about King’s Park Moving Together.