Eli Nichols: The first male St. Mary’s footballer to represent England Universities
The moment you are selected to represent your country is widely rated as the best honour a sports athlete can have. Eli Nichols, is an extremely talented footballer from St. Mary’s University and he has become the first student achieve this feat.
The England Universities teams select the best talents from all universities around the country and provide a “performance pathway across a range of sports” and the opportunity to “compete in the Home Nations tournaments”.
Childhood dreaming
Eli is no stranger to high performance environments. Football was a staple is his household and it was as early as when he was a seven-year-old when he first signed for a football team. Bristol City, near to where he grew up, signed him after noticing his ability and his work ethic.
“My dad was a big football fan and he played when he was young. He passed his passion through to me and my brother”.
“I looked up to him, he is 55 now and still plays. He would always take my brother and I to do extra sessions to practice and do drills”
“I remember my dad would show me videos of Ronaldinho and I always loved watching how he played”.
Having seen Eli’s ability first hand, it is clear to see where his inspirational came from. The ease which he goes past a player using his, flair, skill and speed is something that any Brazilian would be impressed with.
Kids all over Brazil, England and all over the world dream of becoming a professional footballer, this was no different for Eli. He recalls drawing and fantasying about landing this job since an early age.
“As early as I can remember, it’s always been football. My drawings in reception of what I wanted to be, always a footballer”.
“Alongside Ronaldinho, I used to obsess over videos of Aaron Lennon, Jermaine Defoe and all the Tottenham players”.
The right platform
Between spending time at school and playing for Bristol City, Eli always found time to work on his craft when no one was watching. When the time came for leaving school, his mum was a huge influence in making sure he kept up with academic work but also pursued his footballing aspirations.
Eli’s dedication to both was well suited to going to Hartpury college, where football and academics are equally taken seriously.
“I boarded at Hartpury and it was the best. There was a lot of attention given to football and school work. The facilities, coaches and everything you needed was there for you to be bale focus”.
At around this age, nearing the 16 to 18 years old, the funnel and path to becoming a professional footballer becomes tighter and tighter. An opportunity to go to America fell into Eli’s hands, and despite still being incredibly young, Eli travelled alone across the pond to carry on chasing his dreams.
“A scout from American Universities came to watch me play and from that it resulted on me going over to America on a scholarship”.
“It was a big step; it was sudden and it wasn’t planned. All I knew was that I was going to be playing football all day every day, and that excited me”.
No journey is ever as smooth as you wish and after a year in America Eli decided to come back to England. Commonly, with that much distant between a young athlete and family, sometimes the homesickness tends to be the catalyst for scholarship abandonments.
Normally with one door closing another opens. After arriving back, Eli looked at his options and St. Mary’s caught his eye for the attention it gives to sport on top of its’ prime location.
“My first impression of the University was good. The first person I met was the football club President at the time”.
“I remember how competitive the football trials were. The level was high, and the first team was full of gifted players. Getting into the first team was my main target when arriving”.
England days
St. Mary’s has had many sporting talents train, compete and represent the university. In football there has been players who have been to the England University trials, but for Eli, the call up came to him.
“It was a surprise and I was really proud of the call-up. I received a call from one of the South West scouts and he had told me they were really interested in me coming to play with them”
“In the end I got in team and played for them in the friendlies they had organised throughout the season”.
“I loved playing at that level, it’s a hand-picked team of the best players in universities across the country, it is very competitive”.
Getting set for kick off… pic.twitter.com/6fotLmADhG
— English Universities Sport (@EngUniSport) May 21, 2021
Unfortunately, due to the Pandemic and Covid, the team wasn’t able to compete in a Home Nations tournament but Eli has his fingers crossed that it will change this year.
Alongside his Marketing degree, Eli plays semi-professionally and aims to continue progressing and one day make it football full time. A sense of patience and confidence in his own ability prevails. When asked what piece of advice he would give to his younger self he emphasised on that point precisely.
“My little nephew is 15, he is at Arsenal and he just got a scholarship there. I am always talking to him.”
“There is a lot of pressure. You just have to make sure you focus on yourself and the time will come”.
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