Niall Owens has had his American dream temporarily put on ice due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

The 20 year old, who made a big impact with Ballinamallard when he came into the first team as a 15 year old, is halfway through a four year soccer scholarship at California State University Bakersfield.

And he was gearing up for spring season which is basically like pre-season, when the news came that everything was cancelled and he was advised to return home to Ireland.

“The way it works is that our main season is from July to December, you have Christmas off and then you come back and have a spring season.

“That is more just friendly games and getting ready for the main season again. We had some good games lined up against the likes of a Mexican team but the first game was meant to be two weeks ago and it didn’t happen and the whole spring season was then cancelled,” he explained.

On Wednesday March 18 the squad had a meeting with their coaches and 24 hours later he was on a flight back home.

“We had a meeting with the coaching staff on the Wednesday and they said that they felt we should go back to our families and they suggested to get out as soon as possible so I basically just booked a flight for the next day and came on home.

“I think it is better to be home with family at a time like this. If I was there by myself the doubts would start to creep in about different things so I think the best decision was to come home,” he added.

The attacker is hoping though that things will be back to normal by the time the main season gets underway.

“I would like to get back as soon as possible but hopefully we will be back for pre-season in July but we just don’t know and that’s the worst thing about it, not knowing,” he commented.

On the pitch, matters had been going well for Owens who was a firm fixture in the team last season.

“I played every minute of the season and we finished top four in the league and went to the play offs but lost in the semi-final. We had a good season and we wanted to build on that and we were looking at different formations and ways of playing when this all happened.”

And he is thoroughly enjoying the experience in California.

“It is great. You are in a full time environment and you have to train every single day and then you are travelling all over the place for the games. You are getting to go to different states and different places every other week. It is a great experience which I’m really enjoying and I’m only halfway through my course,” he stated.

The other side to it is the college work with Niall taking a main degree is Liberal Studies and a minor in Kinesiology. And that too is going well for the Fermanagh man.

“I’m doing well in school and at the minute I am actually on track to finish the course early,” said Niall, who is continuing his studies while at home.

“It is all online now. All the lectures and things like that are on a video call. The professor takes the call and we all just dial in on it and go through the lecture. All the assignments are still due in, it is virtually all online now instead of being in class.”

He is also maintaining his fitness in preparation for a return to California and a return to football.

“I have been keeping myself ticking over in terms of fitness. The coaching staff give us a programme to do so I have just been doing running and jogging whenever I’m allowed and I have an exercise bike here at home. I’m also doing circuits and using the ball in the garden.

“It is hard to mimic the real thing though and the one thing that you do miss is that competitiveness every day in training, that is the thing that I would miss the most.”

Owens has a desire to play football full time when his course is finished and would be happy to stay in America to achieve that but he is sensible enough to also know that it is important to have a back up option if that does not come to fruition.

“The good thing about going to America is that you put yourself in the shop window out there as well. Whenever I finish my time at the college I will see what happens in terms of clubs there and clubs here but I will always have the degree in the back pocket so if my plans didn’t work out I would always have that to fall back on.”

And the young player also maintains his link with the Mallards, training with the squad whenever he is home.

“When I came back at Christmas I was down training with Ballinamallard and I still keep it touch with a lot of the boys. Harry is always looking to know how I’m getting on so I keep in touch with him.

“It is always good to get down there and keep in touch with everyone,” he concluded.

 

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