LeiLanni Nesbeth is making a timely return from a knee injury she suffered last September while playing for Brighton & Hove Albion in England.

Nesbeth tore the meniscus cartilage and anterior cruciate ligament in her knee but was given the all-clear to resume light training.

Nesbeth is set to begin her freshman year at Florida State University in Tallahassee this summer on a full football scholarship.

Before she heads to university, the striker is expected to be a part of the Bermuda under-20 team for World Cup qualifiers.

“I got the [scholarship] offer in July and the injury happened a month or so later, so it was good timing,” said Nesbeth, who was recently crowned the Junior Female Athlete of the Year.

“I just got cleared to run so I’ve been doing a lot of running,” she said. “Hopefully in three months I’ll be cleared to play again.”

Nesbeth and cyclist Matthew Oliveira, the Junior Male Athlete of the Year, who also studies in England at Loughborough University, were the flag carriers for the opening ceremony for MS Amlin World Triathlon Bermuda on Thursday.

“It was a great feeling; I wasn’t here to receive the award, but in England, about 1am in the morning, I was getting a bunch of nice messages from everyone back home,” she said of the awards night in March.

“It was nice to receive the award for football because usually I receive awards for cricket.”

Nesbeth returns to England this weekend where she will complete her final term at Bedes School in East Sussex next month before graduating in late June after four years at the school.

She will start early at FSU, doing summer classes, and getting prepared for her first season at Florida State, the 2018 NCAA champions.

“I’m very excited, that was definitely where I wanted to go,” she said. “It all seemed to work out at a very good time.”

Nesbeth was a member of the Bermuda Under-17 team that played in the Concacaf Championships last April.

The tournament was held initially in Nicaragua but was postponed after one round of matches because of rioting, before resuming in Florida a couple of months later.

The switch worked out for Nesbeth in the end. When you are a student trying to go over to the US everything is based on footage so that they can see you, but I didn’t have much at the time,” she explained.

“Fortunately, the Under-17 World Cup qualifiers got moved to Florida at IMG Academy and I was able to contact some schools who were able to come and watch me.”

The US is a hotbed for women’s football, with Nesbeth, 17, opting for a college education first before pursuing a professional career in England or the US.

“I picked up the injury with Brighton and they helped out tremendously with the whole recovery process,” she said.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to enter the professional draft for college students and start my professional career after college, which is the plan.

“The NWSL [National Women’s Soccer League] has nine professional teams throughout the country. It’s definitely big; they take it very seriously.”

Nesbeth has her sights on being fit enough to play for the Bermuda Under-20 side in July, though she is still, “Keeping my options open” regarding the senior national team.

“I’m still not going to be involved in the senior programme for Bermuda just yet, because I want to see what England or the United States has to offer, although I still want to play for the under-20s,” she confirmed.

“I want to keep my options open; I’m only 17 and don’t know what the future holds.”

Nesbeth was also a cricketer at Bedes, the school that Delray Rawlins also attended, but football is still No 1 for her.

“I had been doing some coaching with the girls at the school, but I haven’t played for about two years now,” she said.

“It was fun while it lasted, when I was able to do both, but when it comes to my academics there was no way I could do high-level football, high-level cricket and still maintain my grades. They don’t play much cricket in the States so I’ve got my mind set on football for the long term.”