Shaw credits Bolt for WSL success
Published:Saturday | January 13, 2024 | 12:11 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
Reigning Barclay’s Women’s Super League (WSL) Player of the Month for December, Reggae Girl Khadija Shaw, has heaped praises on sprint legend Usain Bolt for the support he has given since her move to Manchester City FC in England.
In a recent interview with Manchester Evening News, Shaw said that Bolt always engages her in conversations about her football journey.
“He’s always been supportive. We speak about my progress, and we have a good relationship. When he’s in town he lets me know and we will link up,” Shaw shared.
In the 2022-23 season, Shaw scored 31 goals in all competitions for Manchester City and in the process became the first Jamaican to be nominated for the Ballon D’or award. For 2023-24 season, the prolific striker continues to lead the Golden Boot race having so far netted nine of Manchester City’s 26 goals. She added that she believes an advice given to her by Bolt in March last year could have been a turning point for her.
“In certain aspects, if I’m struggling, whether that means strength work, I’ll reach out to him. We had a really good conversation in March, and he told me some things I could work on where I could get an edge over defenders and stuff like that,” she stated.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
On the back of a strong start to the new season, Shaw explained that there’s room for improvement with her game as she often watches replays of her matches to see where she can get better.
“I think for me the sky’s the limit. I think there’s a lot more room to improve, especially when I watch back my videos. It’s about keeping my head down, working hard on the pitch, building good relationships with my teammates and just keep pushing on.”
As for her team, Manchester City, who last lifted the Women’s Super League (WSL) trophy back in the 2016 season, Shaw believes it’s of high importance that the group keeps the confidence level high while remaining consistent for the remainder of the WSL season.
“We just have to keep pushing, keep improving, just focus on what we can control and we’ll see. It’s about being consistent as we’ve had some really good results but let ourselves down in other games. Now we’re in a good place, it’s about just keeping the confidence high within the group,” Shaw explained.