“She’s sick!” United captain Maya Le Tissier says at the sound of Tullis-Joyce’s name.
The centre-back says having Tullis-Joyce in goal gives her confidence and she has already become a leader within the squad.
“She’s an amazing person. An unbelievable goalkeeper. We lost Mary in the summer but Phallon had been training the whole of the previous season,” said Le Tissier.
“We knew she was going to be ready and she knew what it was going to take.”
Alongside departing coach Ian Willcock and the rest of the goalkeeping group, Tullis-Joyce said she spent last year as back-up “watching” and “building chemistry” with her team-mates.
Away from the pitch, whenever her schedule allows, the 28-year-old spends time on her other hobbies – scuba diving, photography and collecting fossils.
Pursuing those passions has taken her around the world – from Costa Rica to Egypt to Norway.
“It’s helped me tremendously just to have something that’s completely and utterly separate from my career on the field,” she said.
“I even took up free diving [which involves holding your breath and travelling as far as you can underwater without the use of breathing equipment] as well.
“That helped me understand my body’s physiological responses to stress. I am able to sense my stress a little bit faster.”
Growing up in Long Island, New York, she fell in love with the ocean and went on to study marine biology at the University of Miami – something she is planning on returning to when she hangs up her gloves.
“My plan post career is to go right back into the ocean and hopefully help with expanding marine protected areas to make sure that we take care of all the animals that we live with on this beautiful planet,” she says.
In the meantime it is local Manchester students who have benefited from her expertise as she has spent time teaching them about marine conservation as part of a club initiative.
