For as long as he can remember, London native Fikayo Ajayi has played soccer, or as he prefers to call it, football.
Ajayi tried rugby and track and field, but he was too committed to playing soccer to give those sports his full attention. So he quit and focused on soccer.
“In England, it is pretty much a way of life,” Ajayi said. “Many other sports are not big in England. … When you’re young, you play football until you’re not good enough to play anymore and then you find something else.”
Ajayi, a midfielder, wanted to keep playing after high school, but injuries took a toll on his playing time and recruitment. He pulled his hamstring and was out for two months during one season. Another year he broke his leg and was sidelined for seven months.
“That was a tough injury to come back from both physically and mentally,” Ajayi said of the broken leg. “It takes a while to build back up that confidence and return to your previous level of performance.”
Despite his injuries, Ajayi was still getting looks from coaches in the United States.
Amherst College head coach Justin Serpone found out about Ajayi through an international agency called PASS4soccer, which secures scholarships at American universities for players in the United Kingdom. Serpone watched a video of Ajayi and wanted to find out more about him.
“Coach Serpone contacted me and let me know there was an opportunity to come (to Amherst),” Ajayi said. “I thought it’d be a good idea because I’d be able to get a good education and also play high-level soccer.”
Ajayi committed to Amherst in 2014, but he missed the application deadline. He decided to take a year off to let his body recover and enrolled at Deerfield Academy as a post-graduate until he could enter Amherst in the fall of 2015.
“The timing worked out in that way and it just ended up being a fit in the end,” Serpone said.
Ajayi said the year he spent at Deerfield helped him get accustomed to the American educational system, which is different compared to England’s. It also helped him get used to living away from home in a country he was unfamiliar with.
“I thought the whole package was a better plan than just taking a year and seeing what happens,” Ajayi said.
In his freshman year at Amherst, Ajayi was immediately thrust into the Mammoths’ system, playing in 16 games while starting six. He didn’t score a point as Amherst went on to win the national championship.
“When I got to Amherst, the older guys on the team were very welcoming and helpful in terms of giving me advice about life at Amherst,” Ajayi said.
In his sophomore season, Ajayi’s offensive role increased and he scored two goals and two assists, helping the Mammoths to a New England Small College Athletic Conference title.
Serpone is used to coaching international players and knows getting used to different rules, substitutions and length of schedule can be a tough transition for anybody. But Ajayi, he said, didn’t take long to get comfortable.
“Now as a junior, (he’s) become one of our most influential and important players,” Serpone said. “He’s had injury issues in the past and I think wasn’t as consistent his first couple years and this year … it’s clear you can’t watch us and not sit there and say Fikayo Ajayi is one of Amherst’s best players.”
Ajayi had a career-high three goals and seven points in 13 regular-season games.
“What makes me most proud is how far he’s come as far as being reliable,” Serpone said. “He’s always been talented. We trust him anywhere on the field. He’s probably played all 10 positions other than goalkeeper in his career and that’s a testament to just good players finding a way on the field.”
Ajayi is trying to lead his team to another championship. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, he scored both goals as Amherst beat Salem State, 2-1. In the second round, Amherst beat Springfield on penalty kicks to advance to the Sweet 16.
The Mammoths play Rochester at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Messiah College’s Shoemaker Field in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
“I love winning,” Ajayi said. “It is very satisfying when you are successful. I look forward to any game as much as the other because no two games are the same; you’re always challenged in different ways.”
Ajayi is happy with his decision to play for Amherst because it gives him the chance to be a winner alongside teammates who care about the game as much as they do in his native country.
“A good player’s a good player, whether they’re from Boston or from London,” Serpone said.