July 18, 2012
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - As summer jobs go, UCF's A.J. Nelson knows his gig later this month won't be very lucrative, but it has the potential to be very rich with memories and life experiences.
The senior forward for the UCF men's soccer team will be working as a video logger for NBC Sports at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Nelson's NBC job - watching athletic events and cutting highlight tapes - will require him to spend some 20 days in England and he's tacking on an extra week beforehand with fellow UCF student Dan Crowther to travel abroad in Europe.
Needless to say, Nelson can't wait for the Games to begin because of the anticipation of being around some of the best athletes in the world.
``I don't think anyone else's summer job will be able to compare to this one,'' Nelson said with a laugh. ``I might not be getting paid, but I've got a feeling I'll be developing a lot of long-lasting memories with this job.''
The opportunity at the Olympics came about after Nelson worked with NBC as a ``runner'' the last two years during The Players Championship golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass. After submitting a resume and going through two phone interviews, Nelson was awarded the position. Housing, meals and expenses will be covered throughout the summer internship.
``It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, especially with it being in a great city like London,'' said Nelson, a finance major at UCF. ``It's also somewhere I've always wanted to go, loving soccer and following the English Premier League. It's just unfathomable to me that I'll be in London most of the summer.''
Nelson, a 6-foot-2, 175-pound forward, is a fixture on the Knights' men's soccer team that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament each of the past two seasons. Nelson has started 31 of the 39 games he's appeared in the past two seasons. Fittingly, the Ponte Vedra native had goals in wins against Jacksonville and North Florida last season.
After losing agonizing overtime decisions to Michigan and USF to end each of the past two seasons, Nelson strongly believes UCF is on the verge of a special season this year.
``Our senior class has been through two heartbreaks the last two years and we have learned from that,'' said Nelson, who was a member of the C-USA All-Academic team last season. ``The experience of being there (in the NCAA Tournament) is big for us. Now, with the seniors, the other pieces that we have with the transfers coming in and the younger guys starting to play better, I really feel like we have a chance to make a run in the tournament. We want to get that message across to the whole team. This isn't about just winning games; we want to do something really special this season.''
Nelson's commitment to the UCF soccer team briefly put his opportunity to go to the Olympics in jeopardy. Because he will be in London until Aug. 13, Nelson will be forced to miss some of UCF's preseason training drills. UCF head coach Bryan Cunningham fully understood the magnitude of the opportunity for Nelson and excused him from the preseason drills.
``I was very excited when I found out, but then I saw the dates for it and they ran into the first few days of our preseason. I hadn't spoken to Coach Cunningham about it yet because I didn't know I'd get chosen. Once I realized it would run into our preseason, I was wondering if he'd let me do it,'' recalled Nelson, who hopes to catch some of Michael Phelps' swims in his downtime. ``Coach trusts me and I've never come in unfit. Coach knows I will come in fit and I'm working really hard right now. Coach told me, `That's a great opportunity and I'd never stop you from getting this chance.' Coach Cunningham knows that I will come back in shape and can still be an integral part of the team. I'm just so excited about getting the chance to go to the Olympics.''