A Selby sports teacher is preparing to take on the world after winning a place on a major national football team.

Hours of gruelling training sessions have finally paid off for Selby High School PE teacher Chloe Llewellyn, 27, who has been selected for the Welsh National Ladies' football squad.

The full-back, who is originally from Blackwood in South Wales, impressed the Welsh squad manager who watched her excel for Northern League outfit Stockport Manchester Ladies' FC - for whom she is enjoying her debut season.

Chloe said she was 'amazed' when she heard the news of her selection.

"I just had this massive grin on my face," she said.

Now she will play her first match for Wales on March 8 - a friendly against American side Kennesaw State.

Then the team hope to compete in the Women's World Cup in 2007.

For Chloe, this would be the pinnacle of a career that has already spanned some impressive achievements since she first began playing competitive football at the age of 19, when she was a student at Leeds Met University.

The versatile player, who lives in Brayton, has played for Leeds United, Manchester City, Huddersfield and Stockport County - not to mention her job as a full-time school PE coach, teaching basketball, rugby, badminton, netball, hockey and volleyball.

In her teens she played hockey for Wales, but she always yearned for 'the beautiful game'.

"I've played football ever since I could walk," she said.

"But there was no provision for football at school."

Since starting her job at Selby High School four years ago, Chloe has flown the flag for women's football, encouraging female students to take part in the game.

The school's efforts to boost the ladies' game have won it a Football Association charter mark.

Despite the vastly increased choice of female sports since Chloe's own schooldays, she said much more can still be done to raise the profile of the women's game.

"Before the Second World War, women footballers used to have crowds of 30,000 watching them," she said.

"Now the game needs more TV coverage for people to watch it, so more money can be raised.

"There are women out there that want to play but they need to be rewarded for what they do."

As for Chloe, the future is bright. "I just love football," she said. "I can't take part in any sport and not win - it frustrates me if I can't be the best."

Updated: 10:45 Thursday, January 27, 2005