Meet Trearddur Bay’s exciting new signing Yasmin Wilcox

One of North Wales’ brightest young football prospects made her senior debut for Trearddur Bay last weekend.

Yasmin Wilcox, 16, was in the Bay side which narrowly lost 1-0 to Amlwch Town in a North Wales Women’s League Anglesey derby.

Over the past two seasons, Yasmin has been a key player for Caernarfon Town Under-16’s.

She scored 36 goals in 2021-22 and another 20 this term, helping the Canaries last season win the NWCFA Under-16 Girls Cup and reach the FAW Welsh Cup semi-finals.

Yasmin had a chat with Grassroots North Wales about her exciting move to Trearddur Bay.

How was your debut against Amlwch on March 12? Not the easiest of conditions I believe?

I thought as a whole I played individually quite well. I had a few shots on target that didn’t go as I would want them to.
Due to the strong winds it was quite hard to get an accurate shot. However, it felt nice to finally be able to play with the Trearddur Bay girls.

Why have you joined Trearddur Bay?

I’ve known Stacey Evans (player/coach) since the days she was coaching me in Holyhead Hotspur when I was around 9 years old.
She’s helped me be the player I am today by getting in touch with the North Wales Girls Development Centre, who I played and trained with for five years which improved me as a player.
I have a-lot of admiration for Stacey so I couldn’t wait to finally be with her at my new team. And the travelling to Caernarfon was becoming a lot, especially with my GCSEs coming up.

What do you think of the club so far? Are you impressed by their all-inclusion policy?

I think the club is a big club that is only getting bigger so I couldn’t wait to be a part of it.
Trearddur Bay welcomes everyone, it doesn’t matter about your age, ability etc.

What players do you hope to learn from at Trearddur?

All of them. As I am very young I feel they all are able to teach me stuff that can improve my game and I am grateful to be in a team with such lovely girls.
Of course I am excited to learn from Ashleigh (Jones) and I can’t wait to be able to play alongside her and learn from my new captain. And as I said I can’t wait to be with Stacey again and be able to learn from her.

Will you miss Caernarfon Town? How long were you there and what did you achieve with the club?

Of course. Playing with girls with a lot of skill and knowledge of the game helped me grow as a player. I will miss them all and they will be mates for life.
I was a part of the club for 7 years. I achieved a lot, such as winning the NWGFL Cup last season in a derby final win against Bangor which we won 4-0 and I scored a hat-trick which I was very happy about.
We also reached the semi-finals of the FAW Under-16 Girls Welsh Cup in which we played Cardiff City. I scored in a 3-1 loss.
I also was able to score 36 goals last season after I was moved position by my manager Tania Jones to CAM playing a number 10 role where I found myself playing every game and I loved it. I felt like I finally found my strongest position.

What are your main strengths and weaknesses as a player?

I would say my strengths are I can be a very skillful and tricky player that can make a good through ball when needs be.
I also have a powerful shot so my corners and crosses are one of my strong points. My biggest weakness is probably my fitness. I feel that this is something I have definitely seen an improvement on since training with Trearddur Bay. My tackling also needs a bit of work but again I have seen improvement since starting at my new club.

How would you describe your style of play?

I would say my style of play is I like to have the ball passed to my feet and I love being able to do some skills and run with the ball and not have to chase the ball down – I have to try to get a shot off straight away.

What do you hope to achieve for the rest of the season?

I hope to be able to help the team in any way I can to secure a couple of wins at the end of the season,and also individually be able to get some game time with and against some experienced players and improve even further.

What are your hopes for Trearddur Bay ladies?

I have seen how much improvement and progress the girls have achieved over the past two seasons and they are only getting better so honestly I just want everyone to see how far these girls have come and show everyone what Trearddur Bay is made of.