The sky is the limit for two Bede Sixth Form College students who have secured football scholarships in the States. 

Results day had to be swapped for long haul flights for the sport students after their study plans were given the green light. 

Brooke, 18, from Billingham, is off to Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri, to study exercise science. 

While Callum will be studying the same degree subject but at Missouri Baptist University. 

He said: “It has all been very quick. With all that’s been going on I didn’t think I would be going until Christmas and then all of a sudden it was all happening.” 

To play football and study in America has long been an ambition for the 18-year-old from Ingleby Barwick. 

“I’ll have some great stories to tell and I’ll be able to say I have played football across the world,” he said. 

As for the experience it will be a whole new ball game.  

Callum, who today achieved a triple distinction star from Bede, said: “I will train on a morning when the temperature can be 35 degrees. And then in the winter it is five inches of snow. I have had to pack for everything.” 

Fellow triple distinction star student Brooke said: “It is going to be totally different. Playing in that heat will be one of the biggest things.” 

She admits there was a time when she feared she might miss the opportunity due to the pandemic and the resulting travel ban.  

She said: “It has been stressful but it also gave me time to train and prepare.” 

Now looking forward to the adventure ahead, she added: “It’s a bit scary but it will be worth it.”