Calleigh Hedley Balances Motherhood and Football for Guernsey FC

Calleigh Hedley pauses for a moment when she talks about the season ahead. It is not the defenders, the travel or the fitness work that trouble her most. It is the hours away from her son.

"I'm not looking forward to spending whole days away from him," Guernsey FC’s prolific forward admits.

A year ago, Hedley stepped away from the pitch to have baby Luca, missing half of last season after becoming pregnant. Now she is back, trying to rediscover match sharpness while learning the rhythms of life as a new mother. Training sessions, gym work, recovery – all of it now has to fit around feeding times, naps and childcare.

She is not doing it alone.

"My family are amazing, they're always helping me with Luca," she told BBC Radio Guernsey. "If I need to go to the gym or anything, they're always offering 'we'll have him for a bit so you can go do what you need to do'.

"For the away games, for the home games, they say 'we'll have him, don't worry', so it's been a massive help."

That support system matters, because Guernsey’s ambitions still rest heavily on her boots. Despite playing only eight times last season, Hedley scored 16 goals and finished as the sixth-highest scorer in the Southern Region Women's Football League Division One South. When she plays, the net tends to ripple.

Guernsey FC, heading into just their second season in the English league pyramid, need that edge. All the early evidence suggests it has not gone away.

In last month’s Women’s FA Cup tie – the club’s first-ever appearance in the competition – Hedley announced her return in the most direct way possible. Two minutes into their home match against Chessington & Hook United, she struck. By full-time she had both of Guernsey’s goals in a narrow 3-2 defeat.

"I was shocked," she said. "I wasn't sure I was even going to get a goal, let alone score in two minutes.

"It definitely helped me feel a bit better coming back into it, and I obviously had my family there watching and Luca was there, so it was really nice."

That early finish did more than light up a historic afternoon. It reminded everyone – including Hedley herself – that motherhood has not dulled her instincts in front of goal.

Now the focus sharpens on the league. The Green Lionesses open at home to Bognor Regis Town on Sunday, a welcome fixture on familiar turf before the grind really bites. After that, three straight away games, three dawn alarms, three flights to England and back in a single day.

Those trips are no simple logistics exercise for Hedley. They are long stretches away from Luca.

"I don't know if I'll be able to commit to every single away game," she said. "But I will definitely be trying to do some, but it'll be difficult having a day away from him."

Guernsey will build their plans around that reality. Their leading scorer is also a new mum, and every appearance now carries a little more weight. Each goal, each sprint, each early-morning flight comes with a choice.

If Hedley can keep finding the net at anything like her old rate, the question for the rest of the division is a simple one: how do you stop a striker who is already juggling more than anyone marking her?