Calleigh Hedley’s Inspiring Return to Guernsey FC After Motherhood
Calleigh Hedley is back scoring goals. She is also packing baby bags.
Guernsey FC’s prolific forward has returned to the pitch after giving birth to her son, Luca, and now lives in that narrow space where motherhood and football collide. Training sessions. Night feeds. Gym work. Nappies. All stacked into the same 24 hours.
"I'm not looking forward to spending whole days away from him," she admits. The honesty lands with the weight of someone who knows exactly what the new season demands.
Hedley missed half of last season after becoming pregnant, but still tore through defences when she did play. Just eight appearances. Sixteen goals. That haul made her the sixth-highest scorer in the Southern Region Women's Football League Division One South, despite her limited minutes. Guernsey FC know exactly what they get when she pulls on the shirt.
They also know she can’t do it alone.
"My family are amazing, they're always helping me with Luca," she told BBC Radio Guernsey. When she needs to get to the gym, they step in. When she needs to train, they take over. "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 has underpinned her comeback. The early evidence suggests her scoring touch never left.
In last month’s Women's FA Cup tie – Guernsey’s first-ever game in the competition – Hedley wrote herself straight into the club’s history in the most familiar way: by finding the net. Twice. The Green Lionesses lost 3-2 at home to Chessington & Hook United, but Hedley scored both their goals, the first just two minutes after kick-off.
"I was shocked," she said. "I wasn't sure I was even going to get a goal, let alone score in two minutes." Any doubts about sharpness disappeared with that early strike. "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 blend of the personal and the professional will define her season.
Guernsey FC, preparing for only their second campaign in the English league pyramid, will lean heavily on her again. Goals win games, but for Hedley every fixture now also means logistics: who has Luca, what time is the flight, how long will she be away?
The Green Lionesses open their league season at home on Sunday, hosting Bognor Regis Town, before a punishing run of three consecutive away matches. Those trips are not simple coach journeys. They start with early alarms, airport runs, flights to England and late returns to the island.
"I don't know if I'll be able to commit to every single away game," she admits. The reality of motherhood cuts through any notion of easy sacrifice. "But I will definitely be trying to do some, but it'll be difficult having a day away from him."
Guernsey will hope her schedule, her support network and her scoring boots all align. If they do, the division already knows what comes next: a mother, a forward, and a defence wondering how to stop someone who has already proved she can juggle it all – and still find the bottom corner.
