Lucy Parker is excited to get the new Barclays Women’s Super League season underway.
The defender is going into her second season in Claret & Blue after joining the Club last summer. She impressed during her debut campaign, making 22 appearances across all competitions before her season was cut short in April due to injury.
The 23-year-old is reaching the end of what has been a long road to recovery, one that has seen her on the sidelines for the past five months.
Now, she is raring to get out there as the new WSL campaign gets underway this weekend, with the Irons facing defending champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
“The overwhelming feeling I have ahead of the game is excitement,” Parker told whufc.com.
“Everyone in our team, whether that be players or staff can’t wait for the games to get going again, it feels like it’s been a long time since we were in competitive action and we’re all so excited to get back to it.”
The Hammers finished the 2021/22 season in sixth place in the WSL table, their highest ever finish in the top division. Parker played a key role in helping the team record a record points total, as well as reaching the semi-final of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup, and the quarter-final of the Continental Tyres League Cup.
And Parker is hoping that the team can continue pushing forward in the top division under new manager Paul Konchesky, who made the step up from Assistant Manager to take the reins in May.
“We want to build on the success that we had last season, that’s our main aim. It sounds cliché, but we want to push as high up the table as we can, collect as many points as we can and ultimately win a lot of matches.
“As a football club, we want to keep moving forward, even if it’s small steps – so that’s our aim, to continue progressing in this division.”
“I think having Konch as our manager this season will help bring the best out of me. We worked quite closely together last season, and he was able to pass on some of the knowledge he has from his playing days, which was a massive help for me.
“He understands the game from a players perspective because he hasn’t been out of that side of the game for that long, and I think that’s a massive bonus for the team.”
Parker has spent much of pre-season away from the main group, working hard with the medical team at West Ham’s Chadwell Heath training base to get herself in contention of being back out on the pitch for the opening weekend of the new season.
The defender admits that it’s been difficult at times, but she is hoping to be available for the clash at Stamford Bridge.
“The offseason has been quite hard from my perspective. I’ve spent a lot of time working in the gym or with our medical staff and making small steps each week.
"I haven’t been able to get out on the pitch very much until around a couple of weeks ago, so it’s going to take some time to build myself back ready for the start of the campaign.”
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