Coronavirus: Everton's Chloe Kelly says psychologist helping players cope
Saturday 25 April 2020 08:59, UK
Everton and England forward Chloe Kelly has revealed the squad are benefiting from a psychologist to help them cope during lockdown.
The last Women's Super League fixtures before the coronavirus-induced suspension took place on February 23, nearly three weeks before elite football in England was brought to a halt.
Despite also being part of England's SheBelieves Cup squad in March, a prolonged absence for football has taken some acclimatising to for the 22-year-old, who was keen to praise her club's support.
"It's a case of trying to change the mindset, competing with yourself to be better every day," Kelly said. "I think that's the drive that gets me going each day.
"We've had great feedback from the club each week and we have our meeting with the psychologist once a week and different members of the staff we have at Everton.
"The psychologist is always in touch with us and sending out forms each week to see how we are dealing with it mentally but it's great to stay on top of that and just checking up on each other really."
Kelly's 16-goal haul for the Toffees was the best of her fledgling career and put her back on the radar of England boss Phil Neville, who announced this week that he would be stepping down in 2021.
However the forward is keen not to rest on her laurels and says she and her team-mates are using lockdown for self-evaluation purposes, analysing performances to see how they can improve.
"Just using the coaches wisely and having the chat, we have done a lot of work on analysis," Kelly said.
"Things that we might not have been doing before it's a chance to do that now, looking back over your performances and looking at other people's performances as seeing where you can get better."
