Nicole Sykes has taken to football in Sweden | (Credit: Anders Andersson) Nicole Sykes has taken to football in Sweden | (Credit: Anders Andersson)

Its 2 games down in a 22 match season. The experience of playing for Kristianstads DFF in the Damallsvenskan so far has been an interesting one.

The style of football here is very different to what I’ve encountered in Australia, it’s much more physical and things seem to happen that little bit faster.

The welcoming nature of the club here has made the transition into an overseas life much easier, although no one could prepare me for the bitterly cold training sessions and experience of seeing snow for the first time.

I feel as though so much has happened since I got here and the experience of a professional setting has been nothing short of incredible. From the rigorous fitness drills to the extremely competitive nature of trainings I feel like this is the right place to be.

Our first game was against Pitea and it was great to catch up with Lydia Williams and hear an Australian accent from across the field. It wasn’t so great for us when she pulled off a typically amazing save that we’ve all seen her do many a time for Canberra United in the W-League but still fantastic to see her on the field again.

The excitement within the team at every training session and especially building up to game day is infectious and it makes me feel very lucky to be a part of such a hospitable team and to have the chance to train and play against international quality players. With so many Australian players getting the chance to play overseas now I can’t wait to see how the W-League continues to grow.

Nicole scored her first goal for Kristianstads in their 2-1 win over Mallbacken IF last Saturday!