‘Football saved Dad’s life’: meet the coach of the England women’s Parkinson’s team

It began with getting her dad into walking football after his diagnosis – now Gemma Darvill is taking a national team on tour to Canada When Gemma Darvill’s dad, Les, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease aged 58, joining a walking football team stopped him from confining himself to his own home, and she believes the game saved his life.

What she could never have foreseen was that, eight years later, she would find herself coaching the first England women’s Parkinson’s team , helping transform the lives of women with the…