Sophie: "Western Storm means a lot to a lot of people"

On July 31st, 2016 Western Storm played our first competitive fixture against Lancashire Thunder at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton.

Tomorrow (September 7th), we will play our final fixture.

Fittingly, it will be at the same venue against the same opposition.

A lot has happened in the women’s game since that sunny day back in 2016.

One person who has witnessed it all is Sophie Luff.

She played in that very first match and will captain the side tomorrow.

We caught up with her at the CACG today to discuss the past, the present and the future.

“It’s crazy that it’s all going to come full circle by playing Thunder at Taunton.,” she said. “It’s a great and fitting way to finish. Hopefully, we can build on the momentum that we built up in the week with our win at Radlett and put in a good performance to finish things off.

“It’s important that we finish off on a positive note because Western Storm means a lot to a lot of people. Some have been here right from the start and some have joined the journey along the way. We want to put in a performance for everyone who’s been involved over the years. It’s been a bit of an indifferent season for us and tomorrow is an opportunity for us to put in a performance for all those involved.

“I will always look back fondly on Western Storm. We were just talking in the gym and I realised that I’ve been involved with Storm for about a third of my life. It means an awful lot to me. It’s been great to be involved and to be able to witness the progress and transition of the game first hand. To have been actively involved in that has been really special.”

We’ve discussed the past. What about the present and future?

“Things have changed a lot since the KSL days. To have the opportunity to work with overseas stars during those first four years was awesome. It’s different now, but to see how we’ve now embedded into a professional era is great and I’m very grateful to everyone for allowing me to become a professional. Getting that first contract allowed me to do what I love day in, day out. It’s definitely been a bit of a rollercoaster.

“Results are only one side of it,” she said. “I think that if we look back over the last few years we’ll admit to being disappointed from a results point of view, but there’s so much more to it than that. Seeing Lauren Filer and Dani Gibson moving on to higher honours and playing for England has been amazing. To see so many of our Pathway girls come into the squad and the First XI has been really special as well.

“There’s players moving to other teams and moving in different directions, and I’m sure coaching staff will be doing the same as well. Hopefully, we can keep a core group together and hopefully the future is bright as we realign with the County Clubs. I believe that the only way is up.”