Khyri McKenzie: Breaking Barriers | OneFootball

As a budding young footballer, new Brentford Women signing Khyri McKenzie faced accessibility problems that delayed her entry into the competitive side of the game.

While girls’ teams were not readily available to join as the now 21-year-old grew up, her experiences as a youngster have helped drive her career off the pitch.

McKenzie is in her third year of a sports rehabilitation degree at university, with plans to undertake a master’s degree in physiotherapy.

She also runs her own business – McKenzi3Kickz – which helps female footballers aged 13-25 overcome accessibility barriers through events, resources and workshops.

“I’ve always been passionate about football, but I wasn’t one of the girls that started at five years old, it was more like 13 or 14,” explained McKenzie.

“Female football wasn’t as big as it is today, it was a struggle to find teams, especially because I lived in Croydon.

“I saw a lot of girls, especially when I went to Whyteleafe, playing from tier four, the gap is so different.

“You’ve got girls that are playing tier seven, tier six that want to promote to tier four and they end up getting injured because they don’t have the resources or the knowledge to know how to train like an elite athlete.

“That’s what McKenzi3Kickz is about, trying to cover that void. I do tournaments yearly, but my big project next year, if I get the funding for it, is to create an app specifically for female footballers, regardless of if you’re playing tier four, non-league, at any level, everyone can train like an elite athlete.”

McKenzie's football journey started in the backyard with her dad and her brother and extended into regular training alone and with friends.

“I’ve got a little brother and my dad loved football, so he was consistently training my brother to play football and I was a daddy’s girl as well, so I wanted to join,” she said.

“For the majority of the time I used to go out, kick the ball and practice by myself and that’s how I fell in love with it.”

Her first competitive girls team came from a side started by parents, called the South London Blues.

While only a fleeting moment in the grand scheme of her career, it kick-started the competitive side for McKenzie.

“I still talk to those girls now, it’s amazing. It was just a couple of dads that came together and helped out.

"We were in a Kent league and because, obviously, there was not a lot of girls playing, we had to travel far, we ended up winning the treble,” she explained.

Time spent training with Crystal Palace – the team McKenzie supports – was next, before she joined AFC Wimbledon.

She remained there for two years before taking time away from football, owing to falling out of love with the game.

“Last year, I stopped playing football completely. My whole life I just wanted to play as high as possible, but commitments like uni and work started getting in the way so I kind of fell out of love with it,” she explained.

“I was training with Crystal Palace for a little bit and then I decided to go to AFC Wimbledon. I was there for maybe two or three years.

“The way I got to Brentford is that I took a year out, was just playing casually and then my coach came and asked me if I wanted to help out Whyteleafe, so I fell back in love with football because of Whyteleafe.

“The season finished and Lois [Fidler] reached out to me saying that they liked how I play.”

Following a trial period across the off-season, McKenzie was offered a place in Carly Williams’ first team.

Keeping her love of the game is high on McKenzie's list, something that the club continuously helps her with.

“It’s been really good,” she continued.

“Initially when I first started, I was scared to get back into that grudge of, ‘I don’t want to go to training, I don’t want to do this’, with uni and stuff.

“But speaking to Lois before any of the trials, she was very open that they value me, and they see me in the team, she wrote down what would happen and she stuck to her word.

“Carly’s an amazing coach, we all trust her, and I feel like that’s so important for a team as well. If she says something, she’ll do it, so you have to trust her.”

On the pitch, McKenzie is a utility option with the ability to play multiple positions. She has started the new London and South East Premier Division season with two goals and an assist.

“I’m actually a striker, sometimes I play as a winger, but my main position is striker. Coming into the team thinking I was going to be a striker and then being told I’m in midfield was a shock, but I was open to it because I like the ball to my feet,” said McKenzie.

“My thing is hold-up play, I love good hold-up play; hold it up, pass it off, try and battle.”

Khyri and the Bees are on the road to Tonbridge Angels tomorrow in FA Cup action (kick-off 3pm).