It is a question that children are asked frequently: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The most popular answers include: astronaut, superhero, footballer, secret agent, actor, pop star and racing driver. Predictably, academic or even research scientist doesn't feature.

I always remember confidently replying "I want to be a footballer" and can still picture the faces of distant relatives, teachers and one particular school careers advisor, who on various occasions, nodded, smiled (apart from the careers advisor) and politely responded with the standard "Yes, but what will you do when that doesn't happen?"

My parents were far more encouraging yet also pragmatic, "Why not continue your education and get your A-levels first? Just in case it doesn't work out. If a professional club really wants you they will wait." Well, I did get my A-levels and I did join a professional club – albeit briefly.

The glittering career didn't happen. In an end-of-season game helping out a local non-league team I tore my ankle ligaments. I was 19 years-old. Fortunately that wasn't the end and I'm grateful to a number of people who helped with my rehabilitation so that I was later able to join Hereford United. For those of you whose football knowledge doesn't extend beyond the all powerful Premier League, Hereford is a small professional club that has sadly (and for a considerable proportion of its history) languished at or near the bottom of the football league. Hardly the stuff of dreams.

My short time at the club was even less distinguished. For me, the life of a lower league footballer proved to be totally underwhelming, lonely, stressful, lacking any job security and also extraordinarily tedious – this was my childhood dream? I started to question my career choice, while continuing to perserve for a few months, not wanting to let anyone down. Deep down I really wasn't happy. I managed only a handful of reserve games before finally making the decision to go back to education, get a degree and, hopefully, a career. But what to study?

I'd always loved science at school, particularly chemistry, so it was a natural choice for university. Despite a few initial misgivings, I actually found the transition back to academia quite straightforward – thank you mum and dad for the earlier advice! By the time I graduated with a first class honours degree, I'd developed a new passion – chemistry.

I became fascinated by the analytical aspects of trying to unravel the chemical problems in front of me, and developed a particular interest in environmental applications of chemistry. I stayed on at the same institution – Plymouth – and undertook a PhD, which has a surprising number of similarities to the challenges I encountered as a footballer. At various points I experienced feelings of loneliness, self-doubt, stress (mostly self-inflicted) and worry about what to do when I finished.

Friends and colleagues have reassured me that these feelings are actually quite common during a PhD. And this time round, I was far better prepared and motivated to deal with such hurdles. It wasn't a breeze, but I finished it.

As an early career researcher, I've already been very fortunate to work on a variety of fascinating projects, primarily focused on elucidating the individual chemical structures of the many hundreds of thousands of compounds which still remain unidentified in petroleum. I recall being invited to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office several years ago to present our team's findings on a particular aspect of petroleum chemical profiling.

Waiting in the beautifully decorated corridors, knowing that in a few moments I'd be called into a room full of important and influential people intent on hearing what I had to say, certainly got the adrenaline pumping. A case of pre-match nerves? No problem, a final look around at my colleagues who were there to support me, a brief smile, a final exchange of words and I walked into the room.

Hereford United's motto is "Our greatest glory lies not in never having fallen, but in rising when we fall". Hopefully my fledgling research career will give me opportunities to rise again. I was delighted to recently be awarded a UK young researcher award, and with a bit of luck it may help. I love my new life in academia and can't imagine doing anything else. Nevertheless, if it isn't to be, racing driver does sound good.

Charles West is a postdoctoral research fellow at Plymouth University – follow it on Twitter at @PlymUni

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