Mary Earps being crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year marks the latest high in an incredible turnaround for a player who in early 2021 was considering calling time on her career.
At that point, the goalkeeper had not been involved in the England set-up since claiming her eighth cap in November 2019.
After being recalled as part of Sarina Wiegman’s first Lionesses squad in September 2021, she has gone on to help the team make history as Euro 2022 winners on home soil and then runners-up at this year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The final of the latter saw Earps pull off a penalty save, and she received the tournament’s Golden Glove award, six months on from being named FIFA women’s goalkeeper of the year.
As well as recently being nominated for the FIFA accolade again, the 30-year-old was fifth in the Ballon d’Or voting, and 2023 also included her finishing last season with a Women’s Super League-record 14 clean sheets across the campaign for Manchester United.
The journey that might have stopped before she reached such heights began with Nottingham-born Earps kicking a ball around in her garden with her younger brother and father. Having trained with her brother’s team but been unable to play in matches, she joined West Bridgford Colts aged 10.
The young Earps – who would do games like ‘two touch’ with a classmate who shared her love of goalkeeping – was involved in various other activities like badminton, judo, swimming and dancing, which she has said helped build a confidence evident in her readiness to be vocal when playing football.
She spent time with Leicester and Nottingham Forest before joining Doncaster and making her WSL debut in 2011. Spells with Birmingham, Bristol City and Reading followed, while she also studied for a degree in information management and business studies at Loughborough University.
Earps then made a handful of appearances for Wolfsburg in 2018-19 before joining newly-promoted United.
She earned her first England cap in June 2017 and was a member of Phil Neville’s 2019 World Cup squad, without getting any minutes. A few months after that, she played in a friendly against Germany at Wembley, was on the bench three days later in the Czech Republic – then was out of the picture.
Come the start of 2021, in the final year of her United contract, Earps was weighing up whether to continue playing or utilise her business degree.
She would subsequently sign a new deal with United, and Wiegman then started work as England boss, and Earps told the BBC last year: “I can vividly remember the days of feeling really down.
“I had given it a good go, but I just wasn’t quite good enough. I had responsibilities, I had a mortgage and it wasn’t adding up. Eventually I decided ‘OK, I’ll give it a couple more years’. Then Sarina came in and life changed literally like that.”
Earps became Wiegman’s number one as England secured their first major trophy in 2022, then reached a maiden World Cup final. She also helped United break new ground as WSL and FA Cup runners-up last term.
As well as on the field, the boldness of her character has been exemplified by various off-pitch moments, from her dancing on a table during a post-Euro 2022 final press conference, to speaking out about Nike not putting her replica shirt on sale – something in keeping with an England side that has collectively pushed for change in a number of ways.
When named the best women’s goalkeeper by FIFA in February, Earps said the award was “for anyone who has ever been in a dark place”, adding: “Just know that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Keep going, you can achieve anything you set your mind to.”