Athlete Of The Month: Cameron Leslie

Congratulations to Cameron Leslie who has been nominated by our staff as “FirstPoint USA Athlete of the Month” for April 2012.   We are delighted to have another Lacrosse player on our program and we therefore felt it appropriate to make Cameron Leslie Athlete of the Month for April. With him currently carrying out the process of the FirstPoint program and playing for Spencer Lacrosse Club Men’s 2^nd Team, we felt he was in a great position to answer some questions before he gains a scholarship to the USA starting in the fall of 2014. We caught up with Cameron and asked him how he has found being on the program and also a bit more about his sport and why he loves it:   Can you tell us a bit about your sporting background? I started playing pop lacrosse, a non-contact version of the sport, around the age of 9 and then moved to field lacrosse when I was 11 years old. I play for Spencer Lacrosse Club, based in South London, and I train up to 3 times a week with a match on Saturday afternoons. Because of the lack of Junior lacrosse programs close to my club, once our juniors (under 18s) get to Year 11, so 15-16 years old, we move into the Senior teams, where we play with basically anyone aged 15 upwards. This season I’ve been playing mostly in our 2^nd Men’s team, but have played for the 1^st team on four occasions.   What do you enjoy most about your sport? Lacrosse is very fast and physical so I really enjoy that aspect of it and that makes it a really exciting sport to play and watch, it’s very end to end. I also enjoy the fact that it’s not a very common sport in England, so you have a group of friends who otherwise you probably wouldn’t know.   How did you find out about First Point USA and what made you want to join the programme?

I found out about First Point USA through one of their former clients, Dulcie Davies, who is now at Stanford University on a hockey scholarship. I’d been thinking about going to college in the US to play lacrosse and get a degree for a while and realized very early on that it was a really complicated and time consuming process. First Point USA obviously have a lot of experience navigating the process and that was a major factor in my decision to join the program. A lot of their staff also went to US colleges and have first-hand knowledge of what the experience is like.

  You are quite new to the program and waiting for offers for starting next year in 2014. Where are you hoping to go? At the moment I don’t really have a specific area or place in mind. The east coast is the main area for lacrosse in America but it’s spreading very quickly so I’m keeping a pretty open mind at the moment. One place I really like the sound of though is Boston University; it’s highly ranked academically (although I haven’t decided yet what I’d like to study) and its varsity lacrosse program starts up next year so it would provide a really exciting challenge to join that program in its second year.   What are your future goals but also what do you want to gain most from going out to America on a Scholarship? Obviously I’d like to get a degree as that is the point of university and I’d also like to improve my skills as a lacrosse player and contribute to the university lacrosse program as much as I can. In the long term, I’d like to represent the Senior England Lacrosse Team at a World Championship and a European Championship.   How are you finding being on the program? What would your advice be to others? I’m really enjoying being on the program, it’s a really interesting process and I would definitely recommend it to others. My advice to others would be to ask as many questions as you can, it’s the First Point USA staff’s job to help you so use them!  

We'd like to thank Cameron for taking the time to answer our questions!

Do you think you have what it takes to secure a scholarship to study in the USA while playing your favourite sport? Apply now for your assessment!