A SOUTH Lakeland American football player with ambitions of going professional in the United States has been selected to represent Team GB at his cherished sport.

Jensen Fairhurst has hailed American football as his one solid rock since he and his family lost everything, including their Kendal home, in December's Storm Desmond.

He has recently taken the latest step towards achieving his dream of making it as a professional player across the Atlantic by being selected to represent his country, but it has been quite a journey so far.

Fairhurst, 17, first started playing by assembling a team with friends due to a shortage of American football squads in Cumbria. Their success led to an invitation for him to join the Burnley Tornados team, which he has recently rejoined after a year at Leeds Assassins.

In April, Fairhurst attended a Team GB open trial which saw approximately 200 players from across the country attempt to break into the national side.

"I went to try out just for an experience, at best it was just going to be a day of football where we'd learn loads about the game," he said. "But they sent an email out a few weeks later and brought around 40 back and I was one of them. We then had a two-day camp and they cut the squad from 40 to 15 for next year's World Championships and 12 to go a friendly tournament in Ireland which I'm part of.

"My hope is to get a scholarship to an American university and go there. That's been the dream since I started playing, to go there at any level. But it's hard enough for the best players in the states nevermind the UK."

Fairhurst, who is constantly on the look-out for backers as he has to fund his own travel to fixtures, added American football is more than a mere hobby to him after a difficult year for him and his family.

He said: "We lost everything in the floods and it's been a solid rock to me. It was the one constant thing I had, it's a lot more to me than just a sport. I thank everyone who supported me inside and outside the game, particularly Paul Bremner and Tracey Stewart at Burnley and Dale Bottomley at Leeds."