Little Florin Benfell is hoping to beat the boys at their own game.

The six-year-old American is the only girl in her class at a summer football school, but she is not fazed by the boisterous on-pitch antics of her team-mates.

Instead she sees it as part of a learning curve - to be more English.

Since Florin arrived in Hove from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her mum Christine two months ago, she has been determined to fit in.

Christine, who grew up in Hove, said: "She is always correcting me when I say apartment by telling me in England it is a flat.

"I think she saw football as an English thing she could get into, but she has never played the game."

At the weekend Florin and her mum went shopping for her first pair of football boots for the week-long summer school in Hove Park which is open to boys and girls.

But when they turned up on Monday, Florin was the only girl in her class and was foxed by a question posed by one of her team-mates.

Christine said: "A boy came up and asked her which team she supported. She didn't know what to say because the only thing she really understood at the time was to call the game football, not soccer."

Florin's boundless energy has made sure she keeps up with the boys - but she is yet to master the art of a perfect tackle or strike.

Christine said: "On the first day she was running after the ball and was really eager but never quite got her foot to it.

"Then the ball hit her on the head and I thought she might have cried but she just got up and carried on."

Despite her love of the rough and tumble of football, Florin is not a tomboy and in the past she has enjoyed ballet and viola lessons.

Christine said: "In Pittsburgh she saw American football on television but never went to a live game.

"When I went to a game I was bored senseless.

"I haven't a clue where she has got this interest in sport from."