Reading’s Deanne Rose: ‘Representation and role models matter so much in sports’

Deanne Rose may be living more than 3,000 miles from home, after being signed by Reading last July, but that hasn’t dented her plans to give back to the community she grew up in. In June, she will hold her first soccer camp in her hometown of Alliston in Ontario, Canada, for girls aged between eight and 14. “I thought it was the perfect opportunity when I come back home to be able to give them something,” she says of her plans. “Representation and role models just matter so much in sports and for young kids growing up … I want [the camp] to be really enjoyable and set the platform and the landscape for what it could be in the future.”

That her family and community is what drives her is clear to see: when she helped Canada become Olympic champions in Tokyo last year, scoring a pivotal penalty during a shootout against Sweden in the final. “They couldn’t be in Tokyo but I felt them the entire way,” she wrote on Instagram afterwards, alongside a photo of her with her medal, alongside family and friends, in Alliston. “To my support system and the countless people not seen in this picture, this gold is ours.” Her hometown is clearly proud of her, throwing a parade for her on her return, with residents lining the streets.

Rose describes growing up in a “Jamaican-Canadian household”: she was born in Alliston to Jamaican parents and has three siblings. She tried out various sports with her brothers growing up, but settled on football – her mum signed her up to a local side when she was just four. “My mum has been there from literally day one,” she says. “She was the one that was driving me from practice after work and rushing me to all these places. She definitely would be the number one person that has had the biggest hand in