Over 7,000 kilometres from her home in Vancouver, one can find 22-year-old Canadian fullback Nicola Mawson at one of two places: Ainslie Park, the home of Spartans F.C., or the historic Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

After moving to Scotland in 2014 to attend veterinary school, Mawson impressed with the University of Edinburgh’s soccer team and, after a few training sessions with Spartans F.C. Women, signed with the Scottish Women’s Premier League side prior to the beginning of the 2015 season.

“When I arrived [in Scotland], I joined the university football team and the head coach [Mike Ross] also happened to be [an] assistant coach for the Spartans F.C. Women,” Mawson said. “He invited me out to a couple of sessions, then I went back for a few more, and after a few months was invited to sign with the Spartans for the upcoming season. I’ve never looked back since.”

Although she credits her year spent with the Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite program and the calibre of its coaching and players for helping her to ‘grow a lot as a player’, Mawson is thankful for her coaches, teammates, trainers and parents for getting her to where she is now.

“Although I worked extremely hard to get on the Whitecaps team, it took a lot of support from a lot of people to get me there,” Mawson said. “My previous coach, Bob Birarda, was fantastic and I think he was a key part of my development as a youth player. Four times a week, I would drive an hour and a half each way to play on the team that he coached. Off the pitch, I spent two days a week in the gym with Reggie Zebi who pushed me harder than I’d ever been pushed.”

“Of course, my parents had to drive me to all these sessions as a kid and they’d practice with me in the backyard,” she added. “I can’t stress enough how much my own hard work, but also the work of the people supporting me, shaped me into the player and the person that I am now.”

Prior to making the move to Edinburgh, Mawson also won gold at the 2013 Canada Summer Games with Team British Columbia which she considers her ‘greatest team accomplishment’.

“Being part of the team that’s the best in the country isn’t a feeling that I’ll forget any time soon,” she said.

According to Spartans F.C. statistical data, Mawson has made 58 competitive first-team appearances with the club, but her best memory of playing with the club thus far was the team’s ability to overcome adversity during the 2018 season.

After facing the potential of relegation due to a rocky start to the season and coaching changes, the team turned their fortunes around to finish sixth in the league, four points above relegation.

“Looking back, what we achieved in the second half of the season was incredible,” Mawson said. “In 11 games, we had five wins and two draws, scored 22 goals and made it to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup. It was amazing to be a part of and showing everyone who doubted us what we are capable of is just the best feeling.”

While she has ‘absolutely loved [her] time playing in Scotland’, she has also come against the financial realities of playing women’s soccer.

“There are very limited opportunities for players to make football their sole career in Scotland,” she explained. “There isn’t any money in Scottish women’s football, so to truly play professionally, we’re seeing lots of Scotland’s top players moving to clubs in England or abroad because there just isn’t the support for it here.”

However, she also praised the many positives of her experience.

“For people like me who want to play good football but aren’t looking for it to be their career, I couldn’t recommend it enough. Not only am I able to play with brilliant players and coaches, but I’m living in an amazing city in one of the most beautiful countries in the world.”

During her time playing in Scotland, Mawson also developed an affinity for its ‘club atmosphere’ compared to Canada’s model.

“In Scotland, you grow up supporting the club that your family supports and if you’re good enough, you can play with the same club from the time you’re five until you make your professional debut with the players you idolized as a kid,” Mawson said. “It creates a really special atmosphere when the club you play for is like a big family.”

“We don’t have that in Canada because most clubs are pretty new and once you move on from the youth level, there aren’t any women’s professional teams, so you go off to university to play instead. I think it makes it hard for young players to find role models that have come through the same grassroots program as them and made it, and I think that’s a real shame.”

While Mawson believes that a professional women’s league in Canada would be ‘really great to see’, the fifth-year student worries that a professional career for herself would negatively affect her veterinary ambitions.

“I think if I had chosen a different career path, I would definitely consider playing professionally in Canada if it was available,” she said. “[But] now that I’m just about to be qualified as a vet, I worry that if I did get the opportunity to play professionally [that] I would forget everything that I learned in my degree. If I was a few years earlier on in my degree, it might be something that I would pursue.”

With her graduation upcoming in June 2019, Mawson admitted that it wasn’t easy to be a full-time student and play at a high level, but she’s proud of what she’s been able to accomplish.

“It has been a real struggle to play first division football and stay on top of my studies, but I haven’t been willing to give up either one,” she said. “Earlier this year, I spent four days doing back-to-back day and night shifts in the equine hospital and only slept 10 hours total … then [I] went from the hospital straight to training.”

“I’m very proud that not only have I managed to play Premier League football all through my vet degree but that I haven’t been seriously injured during that time. Studying to be a vet and playing in the SWPL has been far from easy, but I’m so glad that I’ve been able to do it.”

While her future is unclear and she’s still deciding whether to stay in the United Kingdom or move back to British Columbia when she qualifies to become a veterinarian, her love for the Spartans has made the idea of leaving more difficult.

For now, though, Mawson’s sights are set solely on the final months of her degree and more success with the Spartans in her upcoming fifth season with the club.

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Jacob Noseworthy jacobnoseworthy@outlook.com Jacob is a 21-year-old political science major at the University of Victoria, but he is also setting his sights towards a minor in journalism. He joined Northern Starting Eleven to combine his passions of soccer and journalism and to help promote and grow the sport in Canada. NSXI gives him the opportunity to refine and grow his writing skills, while also growing his love of the beautiful game. When he’s not studying, Jacob can usually be found watching soccer, whether he is supporting Vancouver Whitecaps FC from across the Georgia Strait or at Centennial Stadium cheering on the UVic Vikes.

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