Natasha Mead admits playing for England women’s blind team is ‘still sinking in’

Being part of the new England women’s blind team is something which is “still sinking in” for Natasha Mead, who hopes it will lead to another chance of fulfilling the “dream” of competing at a Paralympics.

The Football Association has created the team as part of its three-year ‘Football Your Way’ plan, announced last October, to help develop, improve and raise awareness of disability football in England.

Mead first became involved last August when open ‘activity days’ were held to begin the process of putting a squad together.

Following the trials stage, there have been training camps at St George’s Park since the turn of the year – the first official one was last weekend – and there were games played against Sweden in April.

Next week the squad travel to Pescara, Italy for a series of international matches, and next summer they are set to compete in an inaugural World Championships being held in Birmingham.

Mead, who has competed internationally in other sports and had been playing football “on and off for a couple of years” before the August activity day, told the PA news agency: “I’ve been progressing really well and I wasn’t really expecting to get this far.

“I think I’m still in shock to be honest. I think it’s still sinking in that I’m part of the England squad.

I think I'm still in shock to be honest. I think it's still sinking in that I'm part of the England squad.- Natasha Mead

“I’ve had really good experiences along the way so far and going to Italy will be another big experience. I think it’s a great honour, and I’m very proud to be selected as part of the England team.”

The 27-year-old from Plymouth has previously represented her country playing cricket and goalball.

She was also a sprinter who ran for Great