Sioned Phillips is looking forward to new challenge

Sioned Phillips believes moving to Llandudno Ladies FC this season will revitalise her football career.

The 21-year-old joined Tudno in the summer after the club which she formed last year, Llanberis, unfortunately folded.

Sioned is now set for a new adventure with her third senior club.

She reports that training has been going really well at Maesdu Park and joining the Seasiders has given her a new lease of life.

Tudno resigned from the Welsh Premier Women’s League in 2019-20 after eight seasons in the top flight and will compete in the North Wales League Premier Division when the 2020-21 term eventually starts (or IF it does).

Last season Sioned started up the first women’s team to represent Llanberis.

As player-manager, she finished second top-scorer and the Darans made a promising start to life in North Wales Women’s League Division Two.

Unfortunately, the campaign was curtailed due to coronavirus, and the club was forced to disband in the summer.

Born on March 16, 1999 (same day but different year to Amlwch Town ace Ffion Owen), Sioned Wyn Phillips’ first team was Llanberis under-7 boys.

A former pupil of Ysgol Brynrefail, Llanrug, Sioned was involved in a double triumph with the school in Welsh Cup Finals (under-14s over Whitchurch 6-0; under-13s win v Dyffryn Port Talbot 6-2).

She played in the same side as goal machine and future Wales cap Lois Regan.

Sioned made her first major impact in senior football for Bethel, who she joined in 2016.

A determined midfield player with a consistent goal-scoring record, she benefited from playing alongside quality performers such as Mari Gibbard, Gwenno Gibbard-Bolton and Ffion Williams.

In 2018-19, Sioned was part of the Bethel squad which finished joint-champions of North Wales League Division One, scoring four goals.

Sioned’s pen-picture on the Bethel website when she was at the club made great reading: “Sioned is a tough and physical presence on the pitch who always gives 100%.

“With the versatility to play in multiple positions, Sioned is a real asset to the team.

“Sioned has a great attitude for the game and it shows on the pitch, a player who will do anything to make sure she gets the best out of herself, whether it’s a last minute tackle or a wonder goal.”

It is difficult enough to excel at one sport never mind two – but Sioned has made a pretty good job of it.

In the game of rugby, she used to play for Scarlets U18’s and then RGC and also earned herself a Welsh Colleges cap.

In 2017, Welsh domination of the AoC Sport British Colleges Championships Girls Rugby 7’s continued as they secured the gold medal for a record ninth consecutive year in Nottingham.

One member of the winning Welsh squad was Coleg Menai’s Sioned, who hails from Llanberis.

Fly-half Sioned, who scored one of the tries that defeated the East region, was a member of the Caernarfon and RGC youth teams at the time.

When asked about her rugby success with Wales three years ago, she said: “It is something that I will never forget, one of the reasons I decided to go to college to help further my sporting career and hopefully this can be a springboard for more personal success.”

Whether she decides her future is in football or rugby, one thing is certain – Sioned Phillips will always put 100% into everything she does.