LIKE father, like daughter, Jordan Nobbs was always cut out to have a career in football.

From the age of just ten, Jordan, who hails from Bishop Middleham, near Ferryhill, would accompany her dad, Keith, as he ran a series of six-week soccer schools as part of his role as Hartlepool United's Football in the Community officer.

But while Keith's playing days could respectfully be described as unremarkable - 334 Hartlepool starts between 1985-95, one goal from his position at either right-back or centre-half, and best known in these parts for the Darlington derby in which he lost a dozen teeth, only to return, spitting blood, to the fray - Jordan's burgeoning career is anything but.

The 20-year-old left Sunderland Women to join Arsenal in 2010, claimed a domestic treble in her first full season with the foremost women's side in the country and is preparing for another campaign in the Women's Super League, having recently helped Arsenal reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Earlier this month, she made her senior international debut, scoring a long-range strike against Italy that has become something of an internet sensation as Hope Powell's side lifted the Cyprus Cup.

A diminutive attacking midfielder, she boasts an inventive, technically-proficient style that would not look out of place in Arsene Wenger's men's team. Yet for all that she has rapidly emerged as one of the most exciting prospects in women's football, she readily admits she owes a debt of thanks to the hours spent taking on the boys on the council pitches of the North-East.

"Dad's job basically meant I spent the whole of every school holidays playing football," said Nobbs, who was a pupil at Sedgefield Community College before signing for Sunderland when she turned 16. "Even when I was still at primary school, I would spend hours on end kicking a ball about while my dad did his coaching.

"I would play against lads of all ages, and even though it might have looked a bit strange, it was something that felt totally natural to me.

"It toughened me up as a player, and even now, I think it was a really good grounding for everything that's happened since.

"My dad used to say to me, 'If you want to do something, then keep working towards it and it'll happen'. My family pushed me, but only because I wanted them to and they could see how much I enjoyed it. The football games were always the parts of the week I looked forward to most."

Nobbs' first season with Sunderland ended with the North-Easterners losing in the Women's FA Cup final, ironically to Arsenal, and in 2010 she was crowned FA Young Player of the Year.

However, Sunderland's failure to secure a place in the inaugural Super League placed a question mark over the future of a number of players in their team, and along with fellow England international Steph Houghton, Nobbs made the journey south to join Arsenal.

In the two-and-a-half years since, she has not looked back, combining an increasingly successful playing career with a degree in sports studies at Hertfordshire University.

"It's a really good mix," she said. "I study for three days a week, and it's good to have been able to carry that on while I'm playing.

"The course is going well, and I couldn't really have wished for anything more with Arsenal. It was a really big move leaving home and all my mates, but I'm so glad I did it.

"The facilities and set-up at Arsenal are the best in the country, and my recent experiences with England have been the best of my career. I was gobsmacked just to join up with the squad, so to make my debut and score was beyond my wildest dreams."

Those dreams could get even wilder later this year though, with Nobbs now all but certain to be included in the England squad for the European Championships in Sweden.

Last summer, women's football in this country enjoyed its finest hour as Team GB reached the quarter-finals of the Olympics, with a 1-0 win over Brazil at Wembley playing a key role in their successful negotiation of the group stage.

Suddenly, the women's game was not being mocked as a poor imitation of the men's product, an attitude that appears to have endured despite the nation's post-Olympic euphoria subsiding.

"People talk about an Olympic legacy, and I think there's been one," said Nobbs. "At the elite level, the game has changed. When me and Steph started out at Sunderland, we basically had to pay to train. Now, while the money levels maybe aren't astronomical, we're a professional sport.

"But I think the biggest changes are about the perception of the sport at grassroots. We run coaching courses at Arsenal, and we maybe have twice as many girls turning up now. Mams and dads are encouraging their daughters to play football instead of maybe thinking it was a bit weird."

Nobbs, of course, has never lacked for parental encouragement. Her father has helped develop thousands of young footballers during his decades of service at Victoria Park, but it increasingly looks as though his greatest success story started life at home.