WHITNEY Walsh might be only 16, but she has shown she is on the ball by becoming one of the country's youngest ever football coaches.

The teenager, from Westcliff, is the youngest person in Essex to pass a level two Football Association (FA) coaching badge and is possibly the youngest in the country. She had to have special permission from the FA to earn the qualification - generally those 17 and above are the only ones allowed to take the higher level coaching exam.

Whitney, of Hamlet Court Mews, is now working as a coach for Grassroots Football Coaching, in association with Arsenal Soccer Schools, and works with schoolchildren all over Essex. She had previously worked as an assistant coach for Grassroots for the past three years.

Published Monday, November 14, 2005