Former Carniny Youth player Paul living American dream

Paul, from Cloughmills who is a former St Louis pupil, and undergraduate Bachelor of Education specialising in PE at St Mary’s College Belfast, landed the once in a lifetime opportunity in the final year of his degree to take up a college scholarship in the States through ‘Study USA’.

After rigorous interviews Paul was delighted to be offered a scholarship to LaGrange College, Georgia where he is currently taking business classes.

The scholarship has allowed Paul to play for the College Soccer team, LaGrange Panthers and take on a training and playing schedule that is akin to many professional clubs in the UK.

Paul has said of the experience: “It has been an absolutely unbelievable experience for me - the standard of soccer over here is extremely high, far higher than I expected it to be.

“When I arrived the humidity and heat were absolute killers for me but after two training sessions each day for the first three weeks that I was here I soon got acclimatised.

“During the season we trained literally every single day, with the exception of possibly 5 days in total during the entire season which we had off for recovery.

“I have had the opportunity to travel a huge amount across the southern states of Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and Florida for my games.

“The soccer fields at some of the colleges were absolutely immaculate, something that you would expect at a professional English team’s stadium.”

Paul regularly keeps in touch with his old club, Carniny Amateur and Youth FC and gives them updates on his playing career in the States. He would also thoroughly recommend the experience for anyone looking into a scholarship abroad.