I started my footballing career at the age of 8 at the Peterborough United Academy and enjoyed a successful two years there under the guidance of Dan Ashworth and Ray Stubbs. At the age of 10, my family and I moved to Gibraltar and it is here where I joined local side Glacis United and played from the u11 category through to u15 before breaking into the senior first team at the age of 15.

I represented Gibraltar at u17 level against an England School Boys side in 2009 before being recognised by the senior Gibraltar national team and received a call-up to the preliminary Aland Island Games squad soon after.

My most successful years came whilst playing for College Europa FC (now known as Europa FC). After having won the Gibraltar Second Division title in the 2012-13 season, within the space of a year we became Gibraltar’s first ever participants in the UEFA Europa League after qualifying as Rock Cup runners-up. In July 2014, I was given the honour of captaining the side in the away and home ties of the first qualifying round against FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein.

Then, it was in October of 2014 that I received my first senior international call-ups for Gibraltar against the Republic of Ireland and Georgia in the UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifiers. In March 2015, I was part of the Gibraltar squad that scored the country’s first competitive goal at Hampden Park, Scotland.

In June 2015, Dave Wilson handed me my first international cap in a friendly against Croatia in Varazdin where I played the full ninety minutes. A week later I made my first competitive appearance off the bench for Gibraltar against world champions Germany.

At the end of June, I signed for Gibraltarian champions Lincoln Red Imps FC and was part of their UEFA Champions League qualifying squad who beat Andorran champions Santa Coloma in the first round before losing out to Danish champions FC Midtjylland in the second round. It was away in Denmark when I became the first Gibraltarian player to play in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Champions League respectively.

My main aim is to continue representing my country at international level but also to become a full-time professional footballer who can inspire future generations of Gibraltarian footballers on the Rock.

When doing a full-time PGCE its hard to balance lesson planning with training but as it is something that I love doing it’s not a problem. Getting myself to a training pitch or a gym in the cold and dark British weather will have its benefits eventually!

When with the Gibraltar national team preparing for a game a typical day would include a morning team meeting before an early training session. This would be followed by a team lunch, video analysis session, and evening training session culminating in a pool recovery workout and trip to the physio for an ice bath and sports massage.

The Christ Church Sport Scholarship will help me in many ways but in particular with travel expenses and be very beneficial on my football CV when looking for future clubs of a professional background. I feel privileged to be a part of the Christ Church scholarship Scheme and hope that I can help promote sport and football in particular for the university.