Heartbreaks, setbacks and illness.
All have struck Fran Kirby and rocked to the core one of the most recognisable faces in women’s football.
It is that story that lights the inner fire of a player who will be at the centre of Team GB’s attempts to win a maiden medal in the sport in Tokyo.
Kirby kicked a ball before she could walk in a way that even defied the medical profession.
“[My mum] used to tell a story about taking me to the doctors for a couple of tests,” Kirby reflected.
“The doctor threw a tennis ball to see how I would react. I think I was supposed to just catch it, but I kicked it straight back to him. I was three years old.
“My mum just went, “okay, … I think she wants to be a footballer.”
One night, Kirby’s mum Denise accompanied her to a feedback session with coaches at Reading’s Centre of Excellence. She had enrolled at her hometown club aged seven.
When coaches started talking about her daughter’s mental fragility, Denise complained of a headache. It was so bad, she had to put her head on the table.
Denise had a brain haemorrhage and died in hospital that night. Fran was 14.
Three years later the scars of that night still burned as red as the trim on her England Under-17 shirt, and led to an episode while away on a training camp with that team.
Kirby shut out the world and quit her sport - it was only the memory of her mum’s support and passion that got her out of that terrifying hole.
“She wanted me to be a professional footballer and one day it just snapped in my head and I thought, 'you're going have to get yourself back playing’,” Kirby said.
A friend reintroduced her to football with an amateur team where she found her love for the sport all over again.
In 2012, Kirby returned to Reading and knocked in 32 goals in 21 games. Fran was back.
The 2015 World Cup introduced her talent to the world, with England finishing third and Kirby mesmerising a growing audience with her skill.
That led to a big money move to Chelsea, where Kirby has been a crucial part of a dynasty forged in the image of Emma Hayes and her star winger.
In her six years at the club, the Blues have four WSL titles, two FA Cup trophies, and two Continental Cups. Money well spent, by anyone’s standards.
However, disaster struck again in 2019 as a bout of illness nearly ended Kirby’s career.
In November 2019, she was diagnosed with pericarditis – an inflammatory heart condition which doctors said would stop her from playing football ever again and would have ruled her out of the 2020 dates for the Olympics.
Summoning once again impossible reserves of resilience, Kirby steeled herself for a record-breaking return enabled by the COVID-19 hiatus.
“Last year I didn't have any expectation of getting selected for the Olympics because of the situation I was in,” Kirby said.
“It's obviously come at a good time for me. I was disappointed the Games couldn't go ahead last year because the girls have worked so hard to get themselves ready.
“I'm really excited to go. I feel like I'm in a good place and hopefully I can take my Chelsea form into Team GB and hopefully play well.”
And her Chelsea form has been not far short of perfection following a record-breaking season for the club.
Kirby scored 16 goals in the FA Women’s Super League, with 11 assists, most of which were to her strike partner and Golden Boot winner Sam Kerr.
Their final match of the 2020/21 WSL season was against Kirby’s former club Reading, where she scored four goals to lift Chelsea to a 5-0 win.
This year alone has seen Kirby named the FWA Women’s Footballer of the Year, Barclays FA WSL Player of the Season and awarded her second PFA Players’ Player of the Year trophy, which she first won in 2018.
“To win this is really special,” she said during the PFA ceremony.
“I've been playing like I love the game again - and like I enjoy it - and that's when you get the best out of me.”
Sportsbeat 2021