Kirkbie Kendal teenager plays for England internationally

Aaliyah Pearson, 15, goes to Kirkbie Kendal School and trains several times a week. At club level, she plays for the Manchester United youth squad.

Aaliyah with the ball during one of her games with England (Image: Submitted)

Aaliyah plays as a left fullback, but describes her play-style as 'attacking' meaning that she gets involved in creating and scoring goals. 

Her main inspiration is her older sister, Kelsey Pearson, who sadly had to bow out of professional football early in her career due to an injury.

Aaliyah describes herself as an 'attacking' fullback (Image: Submitted)

"I started when I was eight years old in a local team," Aaliyah said. She then became involved with Blackburn Rovers, before going to United after a season.

Aaliyah recently travelled to Türkiye for a UEFA development camp, where she played with England's under-16s team against other international youth sides. Her squad won 3-0 against Ecuador, lost 4-2 against Norway and won 3-1 against Denmark, she said. 

Aaliyah is on the England U16 squad, and could potentially move to U21 in the future (Image: Submitted)

She described the feeling of walking out onto the pitch for England and singing the national anthem as 'very emotional' but as soon as they kick off it becomes 'a game of football.' 

READ MORE: Lake District: Volunteers 'fix the fells' at popular walking route

Although Aaliyah has her sights set on football, she wants to continue her education, especially given her first hand experience with her sister. Aaliyah was out of school for over a week when she went to Türkiye, but her mother Rebecca said that she continued her studies despite this. 

Aaliyah with the squad (Image: Submitted)

The family admit that there will have to be a 'juggle' between A-Levels and potentially going into the U-21s side when she gets to that point. But for now, Aaliyah is taking things as they come. 

"Obviously it's very tricky balancing school work with my football career," she said. "My exams are coming up, I have a couple of weeks focusing on that as well as football." 

Aaliyah describes singing the national anthem before games as 'very emotional' (Image: Submitted)

Rebecca said: "We're really proud to see how far she's gone." 

Fellow Cumbrian Martha Allington, from Millom, also plays for United and England. Cumbria has already been represented in elite women's football by Georgia Stanway, who is from Askam and now plays for Bayern Munich. Stanway was in the England squad that won the Euros and got to the final of the World Cup.