Courtesy: South Devon Herald Express


GB pick Newton soccer striker Shane

23-August-2008

FORMER Buckland Athletic striker Shane Gill jets to Slovenia tomorrow as part of a 12-strong Great Britain squad competing in the 11th World Universities Futsal (5-a-side) Championships.
The 21-year old from Newton Abbot is currently in the final third of a three-year sports science degree course at the University of Worcester.
And already this year he's represented the English Universities in other international competitions in Malaysia and Hungary.
To make the Great Britain squad, however, Gill was among 70 applicants invited to attend open trials in Northampton from which the final squad was chosen.
"I'm naturally looking forward to it," said Gill, who last turned out for Buckland the season before last in the former Devon League.

This season he's transferred to Stourbridge Swifts in Division One of the British Gas Business League, and also to Budleigh Salterton in Division One (East) of the South West Peninsula League when he's holidaying back home in Newton Abbot.
The University of Worcester is funding Gill and fellow student Lewis Fitzgerald through its Scholarship Fund so that both can join their Great Britain team-mates in the week-long championship.
In all, 16 teams are taking part, with Great Britain drawn in Group A against China, Kazakhstan and the host nation, Slovenia.
Group B consists of Brazil, Malaysia, Czech Republic and Israel; Group C of Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Portugal and Slovakia; and Ground D of Serbia, Uruguay, France and Turkey.
The five-a-side game of Futsal is supported by FIFA and UEFA and played with a heavier and smaller version of an 11-a-side football. It's also well-renowned at global level to improve players' creativity, dribbling, close ball control and passing techniques.






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