By Liam Twomey
AUSTRALIA will produce some outstanding soccer talent in the near future if Maribyrnong College has anything to do with it.
The school’s soccer program needs to be seen to be believed, giving participants an introduction to professionalism at a young age while they continue their studies.
Students get the benefit of outstanding coaching through the program’s technical director Arthur Papas who returned to Maribyrnong College after working at the AIS for two years. He is also the performance analyst at the Melbourne Heart.
Other staff members include a specialised football conditioning coach, two technical coaches and a specialised goalkeeping coach who is also an A League goalkeeping coach.
“The whole thing was to come back and implement the national curriculum through our program which is what the FFA (Football Federation Australia) is trying to do. We want to try to develop players based on that curriculum,” Papas said.
“We are not about trying to win tournaments or trying to be the biggest or the strongest. We really are after a long-term growth in the athlete.”
The program has grown in recent years from six students to 66 with 54 boys and 12 girls involved. That growth has seen success stories begin to emerge. The most recent involved Jeremy Walker, 18, and John Buceto, 16, who have been selected to receive youth contracts with A-League sides Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart respectively.
The Heart and Victory rivalry does not stop at the senior level, with the youth league sides also desperate to notch up a win against their cross-town rivals.
“It’s quite similar, the fans bring a bit of feeling to it as well,” Walker said.
Buceto and Walker are training between five and six times a week as well as playing in games.
“Once they reach this kind of level we really make sure that we are not overloading them with their training because Maribyrnong is not the most important thing in the world,” Papas said.
Buceto was rapt to pick up his contract with the Victory and said he thought the Maribyrnong program had been great for his development.
“Even the younger guys he (Papas) has them learning the AIS way and getting them in the right training patterns from a young age which is great for them,” Buceto said.
“I knew that this would be a stepping stone in my development and I was honoured to get the opportunity. Now I will try and just work hard and show that I’m keen to improve.”
Walker moved to Melbourne from Tasmania at the start of the year to join the soccer program and has had the added pressure of VCE to contend with.
The next thing Maribyrnong students will be able to enjoy as part of that growth is a FIFA approved pitch on the school site.
