Courtesy: Mt Druitt Standard


This Viking’s off to the UK

14 Apr 10

by Nikolaos Stavrou

JUST four years after he started playing futsal Ricky Szuch is about to tour the United Kingdom with the national side.

Ricky, 14, of Erskine Park, will depart for England and Wales in October as a member of the Australian Vikings Futsal under-15 boys team.

He is this week’s Mt Druitt-St Marys Standard Junior Sports Star nominee.

(The Standard’s award is sponsored by St Marys Rugby League Club).

Ricky made the under-14 NSW Vikings side after scouts saw him play for Western Force at St Clair Recreation Centre.

He competed in the Vikings National Championship in January which led to his selection for the UK tour.

Ricky said he learnt a lot playing in the state side.

“The experience pretty much was an eight or nine, but my performance was about seven or six,” he said.

“I learnt how to read the plays better and how to make different sorts of angled runs better.”

He said the competitiveness of the other players was impressive.

Although Ricky has only played futsal for four years, he played soccer for 10.

He plays for Bosley Sports in devision two of the Southern Districts League.

But it’s futsal which is giving him a chance to fulfil a dream.

As part of the 18-day UK tour, he will visit the home ground of his favourite English Premier League side, Liverpool.

Ricky said he would be training at Hull City’s ground and visit several other stadiums including Old Trafford.

Among the teams he’ll be facing will be the Manchester United futsul youth team.

Ricky anticipated the skills of his British counterparts would be “much better because their facilities are a higher standard”.

He said there was no way he could have imagined he would ever be playing futsal in the UK and could find “no words” to describe his emotions.


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