Courtesy: The Young Witness


Great experience for Connor and Callum

18 Jan, 2012

THERE is no greater feeling for any athlete than putting on the uniform and waving your region’s flag at the opening ceremony of your first national titles.
For two lucky local boys, Connor McGregor and Callum Spoor, that’s exactly the experience they had walking into the Australian Institute of Sport Arena in Canberra for the 33rd Futsal National Championships.

The boys were selected from trials to represent the Western NSW Under 14s team that includes nine players, at the championships held last week from January 9-13.

Joining players from Dubbo, Orange, Cowra and Peak Hill, Connor and Callum were able to take in what not many players get to experience - that is, competing against some of the top players in the country, and in some cases, other countries.

“They were more excited than anything,” Ms Rose-Anne McGregor said.

“Once they put on their uniforms and walked into the sports centre, you could see it on their faces,” she said.

Teams came from Tasmania, Queensland, NSW, NSW Southern, Victoria, ACT, South?Australia and some as far as New Zealand and Samoa to compete in all levels of the competition, from boys and girls in the Under 10s to men and women’s seniors.

The Western NSW Under 14s team faced their first game on the Monday night, January 9, against a very strong and experienced NSW Lightning.

They lost this game but learnt quickly what the major competition was about.

Last Tuesday saw Western play two games against Southern NSW and NSW Thunder - who were the eventual grand final winners.

Western narrowly lost both games but managed to score goals in each.

By Wednesday, Western played three games which saw the first two against the very strong Victorian team and the ACT Colts.

The team again scored goals with narrow losses.

Western managed to gain points on the table in their evening game that resulted in a draw with the Regional QLD team.

Thursday morning Western NSW won against ACT Cobras 5/3 (who made it through to the grand final).

Western NSW missed the qualifying round by a goal count back of two, which kept them out of the semi-finals.

Connor and Callum, who both play futsal in the local PCYC competition and represent their region in Western Youth League Soccer, said they enjoyed the nationals, gained new skills and new friendships were made.

Connor and Callum would like to thank Western Football and their coach Sam Moula and manager Matt Savaro for the opportunity to play at the Futsal nationals and they look forward to next year’s competition.




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com