FOUR young rising stars from the Whitsundays have just returned from a sports tour of a lifetime.
Max O’Keefe, Reef Peel, Freddie Hazleton and Corey Stroud recently represented Australia, on behalf of the Australian Futsal Association, on a two-week tour of the UK, returning last week.
Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court like a basketball court, however, it’s smaller than a football pitch.
Mainly played indoors, it has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football and it is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper.
The boys were selected to represent their country in an action-packed tour of the UK on the back of their performance for Northern Queensland, at the AFA National Schools Futsal Championships, in Brisbane, last year.
Representing Australia U14 Boys, the Whitsunday youngsters had the experience of a lifetime as they played competitive Futsal games in Scotland, England and Wales.
The tour highlight included competing in the Scossie Cup, in Edinburgh, where Australian black team made it to the semi-finals.
Other highlights included playing games against very strong sports academy teams, in Peterborough, and winning the Roy Miller Cup, in Wrexham (Wales).
As well as all the tournaments and games, the boys also experienced a range of training sessions with different overseas coaches.
They also watched live professional football games (Scottish Premier League and English Championship League) and they toured the home grounds of Manchester United and Liverpool FC, and visited the sights of London.
Now home, the boys are not stopping!
They will once again take to the court with their school team from St Catherine’s Catholic College, when they represent Northern Queensland in the AFA National Schools Championships 2023, at the Nissan Arena in Brisbane.
