By Jonathan Brown
ST MARK’S High School pupil Jake Gracey says he’s “buzzing” after getting signed onto FirstPoint USA’s soccer scholarship programme.
FirstPoint USA is one of the world’s leading American sports scholarship services, working with over 2,500 colleges and universities across the United States.
The 17-year-old goalkeeper, who plays for Warrenpoint Town’s U-18 and U-20 teams, first came across FirstPoint on Facebook.
“It came up on Facebook one day, before that I had been thinking to myself ‘I don’t know what I want to do when I leave St Mark’s.’
“I just thought ‘What could be better than going over to America to play football in the sun, and doing a Uni course that’s paid for?’” Jake explained.
After applying, Jake attended a FirstPoint trial in Lurgan.
The coaches liked what they saw and invited him to an interview in Belfast.
After impressing again in the interview, the Rathfriland native was signed up by the agency three weeks later.
Describing his reaction to the news, Jake said: “It’s quite hard to get into, they only pick the best to go over to America.
“I was buzzing, I was so excited and so happy to get accepted.”
In the full story in the current issue read more about how Jake feels his early teams like Rathfriland and Windmill stars helped him progress.