An aspiring footballer whose journey has been featured in a BBC documentary this summer, has signed for semi-pro club Thame United after attending our trial.

In May this year UK Football Trials were approached by the BBC who were seeking an ambitious footballer on a path to making it as a pro player, to feature in a programme titled ‘One Day That Changed My Life.’

Several weeks before, we had met left-back Chris Baxter, 23, at one of our football camps and he had attracted some attention from semi-pro clubs at the time. He was recommended to the BBC and everything was soon put in place for filming to begin.

A camera crew spent time with Chris at his home, on the training pitch and in the gym as he made his final preparations for the trial, which was to take place on June 1st.

On the morning of the trial, Chris spoke of his excitement that surrounded the opportunity awaiting him.

“I’m looking forward to playing today, I’ve trained so hard for this so I’m excited to see how I can do,” revealed Chris.

“The show is basically filming the backstory of some people that have life-changing results – hopefully those results will be me either getting trials at a professional team or hopefully getting signed.

“They’re filming all the behind the scenes stuff and kind of showing what goes into it. It’s an exciting time.”

During his three-hour trial, Chris took part in several academy-style drills, which gave him an opportunity to showcase his skills to on looking scouts from the Premier League through to semi-pro level, before playing in 30 minutes of a full sized 11v11 trial match.

Several scouts approached him on the day, some of which can be seen on the programme talking with Chris about possible outcomes.

Another person who was impressed with Chris was UEFA A Licensed Coach Ash Hopkins, who took the session that day and described him as a “very, very gifted player.”

“We’ve been working on making sure he understands his game effectiveness, his roles and responsibilities, but technically he’s a very, very gifted player,” Ash explained.

“Overall he’s a great lad, he’s got a great attitude and if he’s got that dream and wants to become a football player it can be done.”

Ash’s words came true later that month, when Chris was invited to a trial with Thame United, who play in the Evo-Stik Southern League Division One Central.

Several weeks on and he has now signed for Thame and is playing regularly for the first-team in front of crowds of a few hundred people.

“I’ve played a few games now for the first team and I’m just fighting for my spot and working hard, but it’s really good and I’m really happy,” Chris said when we spoke to him in September.

“The level’s really good and it’s really competitive. There are a lot of players in the team now and players I play against that could make it quite far in football, so it’s given me a great understanding of the industry.”

Chris continued, “It is tough but it’s definitely something I can work on and I know I can progress and keep getting higher.”

Finally, we asked Chris for his thoughts on the UK Football Trials platform.

“When I did the camp it really helped me progress, more than anything,” he explained.

“The whole week was so beneficial to me and the platform is a dream for anyone that wants to make it in football. If you want the opportunity to play in front of people who have an influence then UK Football Trials is definitely the place to be, I wouldn’t recommend anywhere else.”

Everyone at UK Football Trials would like to congratulate Chris on his semi-pro contract and we look forward to seeing him progress throughout his career.