Menelik Rudo has been named as an Academic All-Canadian by the Canadian Interuniversity Sports Organisation.

The Bermuda footballer has been honoured for his ability to balance his love of sport with academic excellence.

Rudo, a central midfielder with St Mary’s University and Hamilton Parish, will begin the final year of his psychology degree in September and plans to pursue a Masters in the subject when he graduates.

Balancing the two key demands on his time has never been a problem for Rudo whose love for the game meant “there has never been a time where I wanted to give up on football.”

He does acknowledge, however, that there are sacrifices that need to be made.

”The difficult part is the activities that you partake in, in your spare time,” he said. “When you play on a football team, whilst studying in university, you understand that you can’t go out to every party because you have to write that essay, or do those extras.

“With time management and routines it becomes second nature to be able to fit academics with sports effectively.”

Football is never one of those things that is put to one side.

“When I was afflicted with injuries doctor’s couldn’t keep me off the pitch for long. Even when I had big parts to play in other extracurricular activities like dance and drama, football always found it’s way into my schedule,” he said.

The former Berkeley Institute student did not always love the game growing up, but watching players such as Edgar Davids, Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho changed all that.

Hamilton Parish’s “brilliant youth system” allowed that passion for the sport to flourish and he credits the club with helping him get to where he is today.

After finishing college Rudo would like to work in child psychology and believes that understanding the link between work and play can help the next generation of footballers realise their dreams of playing at the highest level.

“We have so much talent on the Island, but if we don’t work hard to keep up physically with the next aspiring footballer we will fall behind,” he said.

“In the same breath you can appreciate that our behaviours and the way we conduct ourselves socially must mimic that of a professional player. If you want to become a professional player, you need to have a love affair with the ball.

“This passion and drive to play is the most important thing to become a professional. Understand what else it takes and expect challenges along the way.”