00:0010-year-old Summer Stanton is ready to break new ground, if not stereotypes, as a brand
00:08new season of the Jebel Ali Youth League kicks off.
00:12As one of the country's premier youth football competitions running every year from October,
00:17the league has seen thousands of young footballers play the beautiful game at the Jebel Ali Centre
00:23of Excellence since its inception in 2007.
00:26More than 600 young footballers across six age groups will be turning out for over 55
00:33academy teams this year.
00:34But Summer will be the only girl in a team roster, captaining former English Premier
00:39League footballer Dale Gordon's newly formed team, DG Pro FC.
00:43Her dedication is there to be seen, she never wants to let anybody down, she's always here
00:48for every training session and she's been given the opportunity with us as well as other
00:52academies that she's trained over in the UAE.
00:55Blanky, freckled and the only girl in Gordon's select squad, it's easy to spot Summer in
01:02a crowded training ground, but her father Gary insists it's easier to understand why
01:07her coach heaps so much praise on her.
01:10She's getting stronger and I've told her, I said, you show a weakness to any of them
01:13boys and they'll walk all over you, but with that bit of maybe that Scouse gene in her,
01:19she's got the toughness in her and that's why she's proceeding in them, you know, she's
01:22not into ballet, she's not into girls, she just adores football.
01:27A die-hard fan of Liverpool FC and club legend Steven Gerrard, Summer dreams of going to
01:33the US on a football scholarship and playing for her native England in a World Cup one
01:38day.
01:39As of now, however, she's happy fighting for the ball on the pitch with her boy.
01:43There was a game where I, like, someone pushed me and I landed on my foot and it really hurt
01:52and yeah, because they're, like, really strong and they tackle me and stuff like that.
01:57Some boys, they will just, like, go past me and say something, but I will ignore it.
02:04And her favourite way of pepping her team-mate up when she finds one down?
02:08If someone falls over, I say stop crying like a girl.
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