Former Bedale High School student Katie Kitching has returned to talk to students about her journey to become an international footballer.
The 25-year-old, from Well, between Ripon and Bedale, began playing for the high school, Ripon Panthers Ladies and the York Centre of Excellence.
From there she joined Man City, training three times a week at the amazing Etihad Campus, combined with her studies at Richmond School.
In 2017, Katie made the lifestyle switch winning a scholarship for 4 years at the University of South Florida (which was extended to 5 years due to Covid).
he explained that once she overcame homesickness, she embraced the American lifestyle and became an integral part of the South Florida Bulls team winning many awards and trophies as well as being named ‘American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week.’
Katie returned to the UK to sign a professional contract with the London Lionesses, formerly Millwall Ladies, where she played for almost two seasons before moving back north to sign for Sunderland Ladies in the Barclays Womens Championship.
This season, the Black Cats remain top of the league with Katie scoring 6 goals and numerous assists and hoping for promotion to the Women’s Super League.
Katie is eligible for the New Zealand Ferns through her Kiwi mum and had been on coach Jitka Klimková’s radar for a while.
In December 2023, Katie made a 10,500-mile round trip to Colombia to make her international debut in Bogotá in front of 20,000 spectators in the Estadio El Campin stadium and in February, she made a 19,000-mile round trip to represent the Aotearoa in Apia, Samoa in the 2024 OFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Here she played all the qualifying games and scored her international debut goal against the Solomon Islands.
In April she travelled to represent the Ferns in a friendly in Thailand and it back to league action hoping Sunderland can gain promotion.
Katie has now represented her country seven times scoring four goals and she is keeping her fingers crossed that she makes the cut for the Paris Olympics and the next FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027.
Katie gave some advice to the students, saying she has used every knock-back in her career, as a spur to work harder and achieve success.
She says she still has to pinch herself that this little girl from a very small village in North Yorkshire, who attended St Nicholas CE Primary School in West Tanfield and Bedale High School, is now an international footballer hoping to go to the Olympics and the World Cup and getting paid on a full-time contract doing something she loves.
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