WHEN a physiotherapist comes onto the American Football pitch it is usually to treat an injured player, but in Beverley Marwood's case it is to captain the team.

That's because in three months she has gone from rookie to skipper of the Great Britain women’s team.

The 29-year-old, who works at the University Hospital of North Tees and lives in Stockton, now has her sights set on the European Championships later this year.

The physiotherapist first got into playing American football after doing some work for a local men’s team. It was while working there that she heard the British American Football Association (BAFA) were running a women’s development scheme to get females into the sport.

She said: “At 5 ft 3in and 9 stone, it might have seemed a terrible idea, but already being a rugby player I’ve never shied away from contact sport so decided to give it a go.

“I went to a few training sessions, immediately got the football bug and have never looked back. Things escalated very quickly. After only three months training, I was selected for the first ever Great Britain women’s team in 2013.

"I was also very privileged to be selected as captain and played my first international versus Sweden, which our rookie team went on to win.”

After the match, she decided to look into joining a local team but couldn’t find one. Undeterred she decided to set up her own team – Teesside Steelers.

“The Teesside Steelers have now been training and playing for over a year with great success in national leagues, finishing third in the country in 2014 and having five local players including myself selected for the 2014 GB squad,” she said.

“My second selection for the Great Britain team was on a much grander scale; Captaining a 40 Woman squad in the first ever 11 aside International, in which we travelled to Stockholm to face Sweden again, coming out with yet another win.

“I am now dedicating my time to building the Teesside Steelers who are currently recruiting for new players and working hard ahead of a competitive contact season.

“In addition there is the small matter of the 2015 European Championships which the Great Britain team are working towards and I hope to be a part of that team again.”

For more information visit www.facebook.com/TeessideSteelers or www.twitter.com/teessteelers