Ashleigh Goddard won the second season of Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker
He went on to become a professional, but a serious health problem halted his progress.
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Ashleigh Goddard won Wayne Rooney’s street striker’s second season but her path to professional football suffered a major setback after a freak accident.
On the iconic Sky show, which aired more than a decade ago, Rooney led a nationwide search to find the best young footballer in the country.
Goddard overcame strong competition to succeed before earning a scholarship to play at a college in Chicago.
He spent four years at DePaul University in Chicago, captaining the team for two of them before beginning his professional career with FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark.
Goddard returned to England to join Crystal Palace and had hopes of helping the team gain promotion to the Women’s Super League.
Ashleigh Goddard won the second season of Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker
However, his life took a sudden turn for the worse after a strange incident during a match.
Explaining the incident that changed his life, he told the BBC: “I went to receive the ball from a throw-in and I think his forearm hit me on the back of the head or neck and I was unconscious for a few seconds.” ‘
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He suffered headaches in the following weeks and a scan would reveal that he had a brain arteriovenous malformation, a problem that affects the blood vessels that connect veins and arteries.
Further scans then revealed the problem had developed into a life-threatening brain aneurysm and would require surgery.
Goddard had to learn to walk again after suffering a stroke but was back on the field within six months.
“They said I would explode at some point in my life,” Goddard said. ‘They couldn’t say whether it would be tomorrow or 20 years from now, but I needed treatment.
“They said it would be fatal or cause a life-changing disability.”
Goddard finally went under the knife to fix the problem in 2021, but then encountered another life-changing complication.
She continued: ‘I woke up and couldn’t move my left side, I was paralyzed.
Goddard joined AFC Wimbledon in the summer after 19 months with the London Bees.
“I couldn’t speak, my face had drooped, my arm couldn’t make the most basic movements. They told me something was wrong but I would never have guessed a stroke.
“It was the worst thing that could have happened besides dying.”
Goddard had to learn to walk again after suffering the stroke, but miraculously returned to play for the London Bees just six months later.
He added: “I had to learn to walk again, I had to learn to use a knife and fork again and when football came I had to learn everything again.”
“I did thousands of repetitions of every type of pass and every touch, and eventually things started to get easier.”
The 31-year-old continues to inspire and joined AFC Wimbledon in the summer.