Rob Slevin on balancing sport and work in college

Carrigaline native Rob Slevin is celebrating after being named the FAI Colleges and Universities International Player of the Year.

The 22 year old UCC and Cork City FC star, who is heading into his fourth and final year of Commerce at UCC, was among the top young football talent to be honoured in the FAI International Awards recently.

Centre-back Rob signed with Cork City FC in January 2020 and has played a major role in UCC’s soccer success over the past two years, including the 2019 Collingwood Cup victory.

Rob chats about his love for the game, solo training during the pandemic, and why he’ll never take team sessions for granted again.

“I was scrolling through Twitter and it popped up – I had no idea!”

“I started playing with Carrigaline when I was about six, and I was playing the whole way up with them. I always played locally there, with my friends and stuff. I started to get a bit more serious with it when I was around 16. I stayed with Carrigaline, and then came to UCC. It’s a great opportunity, to play at UCC – the training, the facilities, the coaches, the competitions you play in.”

“I’ve played two years there, and we’ve won five trophies – it’s been fairly successful, especially as every year you play with UCC, you lose players because they graduate. I went to Italy, representing Ireland at the World University Games last year as well – that’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“It is hard. I think you can’t really understand it until you’re in it. Playing soccer with UCC, you play in two leagues – the Cork league and the university league, and things just catch up. You’re training twice a week, and in the gym every other day, so it is full-time. College work is just as important, if not more, so you just need to find a happy-medium for yourself.”

“Obviously, the coronavirus has messed everything up. It’s been weird; I’ve probably trained more on my own than with everyone else. It’s still enjoyable – it’s made it even sweeter going back after training so long on my own. You wouldn’t take it for granted again.”

“Growing up, I always watched Manchester United, so it would probably be (Cristiano) Ronaldo. I worshipped him!”