It is not every day you get to play against some of the best up and coming players in the world or experience just what it’s like to be a top flight player, but that’s just what Kingscliff soccer player Tom Gladwin is about to do.
Tom,16, is part of a squad of young players from throughout the Gold Coast heading to Germany this weekend for an 18-day football “trip of a lifetime”.
The team of 11 players were chosen from clubs from Pacific Pines in the north and south to Kingscliff.
All players are aged 15-16 and squad trainer John Georgeff said they were among the best on the Coast.
“They will have 18 days learning from the best of the best – Bundesliga coaches (Germany’s equivalent to the English Premier League),” he said.
“It is a once in a lifetime thing, a great learning tool for them.”
Georgeff is a former coach at Kingscliff from the 80s and is now mainly based in Europe and the US. After a stint in Australia this year, he said he was intending to return to the US as well as spending several months in Spain honing his craft later in the year.
He said he would head to Europe with the young players for the tour and then return to Australia for a couple of weeks before heading back out to permanently base himself overseas again.
The German tour will see the boys based at the Hannef Sportschule and take on top junior teams from around the country as well as being able to train with and watch elite players in action.
“They will be getting to experience as close as possible to what it is like to be a professional
footballer,” Tom’s father Kingscliff football stalwart Peter Gladwin said excitedly.
“They are staying at the football school for two-and-a-half weeks and will get to see some of the biggest teams and games.
“This will be an amazing experience for them all.”
The trip is aimed at helping to prepare them for top-flight football and show them what to expect if they do kick on.
The squad will fly out this weekend after all the local football commitments have finished.
