‘Dancing With The Stars’ hopeful Stephanie Roche says young fan letters give me more confidence every week

The most satisfying part of Dancing With The Stars for Stephanie Roche was the messages of support from the fans.

The former Ireland international soccer player said she has received “a lot of messages” about her journey into the program from the kids she coaches.

“That was the best part of it all, having people text me. I run a football coaching company and have a lot of emails saying the kids are watching us, boys and girls, and absolutely love every minute of it,” she said.

“It’s great to see you’re showing young girls that you can be an athlete but also go and do flashy and glamorous things.”

Things didn’t go well for Roche (33), who confessed that she had never danced before signing up for the show. She’s made persistence her mantra since the sessions started and feels it’s starting to pay off.

“My focus is on improving week by week and I am proud I have done that,” she said. “I think I showed more confidence.

“Walking into something you’ve never done before, it can be easy to get frustrated when you get bad reviews or bad grades, but at the same time, if you want to get better, you just have to keep going. take what they say and really try to bring it in next week.

“Someone actually told me that when the judges give their comments, I look them in the eye and try to absorb everything.

“That’s the football player in me. It’s like a player, if the manager has something to say to me, I’ll always listen and try to improve that, and so does dancing.”

This week, Roche and her dance partner Ervinas Merfeldas will be performing a paso doble for their cover of Lyra and John Gibbons. Side seventeen by Stevie Nicks.

The Shamrock Rovers player said Ervinas was a big help, but she wasn’t so sure about his snack choices during practice sessions.

“Scargot – the snail – is not one of his better moments. It was rotten – I can’t believe he made me eat it,” she said.​

“He was so nice to me – he brought his coat to practice the day before and was trying to show me what I had to do to get the paso doble.

“I told him he looked ridiculous, but he was very experienced for someone who was only 20 years old. He was great at giving me advice.”

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Dancing With The Stars continues tomorrow at 6:30pm on RTÉ One.