South Gippsland boys go global

TEN junior South Gippsland soccer players were recently televised worldwide to an audience of over two billion people having been chosen as ball boys and flag bearers at the Asian Cup.
The boys had to attend training sessions and be at games up to four hours before kickoff throughout the tournament in January.
Oscar Plenkovich, one of the flag bearers for the Iran versus Bahrain game said, “It was amazing hearing the crowd roar as we entered the stadium.
The players were right behind us and you could hear them pumping each other up”.
Jasper Kempster, the ball boy positioned right in between the coaches’ boxes said, “It was pretty intense especially when the game was close.
“I couldn’t understand much of what was being said but it was very exciting.”
The Asian Cup was lifted by Australia and hailed a huge success with over 600,000 fans attending games throughout the tournament.
“It was great to see local kids involved on the world stage and experiencing an amazing mix of cultures from countries all over Asia,” commented local coach Paul Plenkovich who helped organise the experience.
The success of the Asian Cup is expected to have an impact with local clubs predicting a lot more interest from junior players wanting to get involved in the world game.

Fans forever: back row from left, Harry Gibson Goldsmith, Kelsey Del Pozzo, Jasper Kempster, Elliot Curtain and Luca Sibly. Front row from left, Oscar Gibson Goldsmith, Oscar Plenkovich, Tristan Donohue and Ben Harris.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Feb 11 2015. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry