Brilliant: Football Superstar

By Greg Pius

A young person follows his parents to Australia after his family fled Syria. After time in a refugee camp his family comes to settle in Sydney. There Simon begins to develop his natural abilities as a footballer. He takes baby steps at first then striding out into the world of professional football. Soon his coaches realize how special his talents really are so they mark him down for future greatness. But life as a professional footballer has its own problems. Simon will need a lot of support. Success is rarely without its own demands on the personal life. But with support people helping the young Simon he has the best chance for success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tablo Publishing
• Release date: Nov 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9781922355584

Book preview

Prologue

Once in a lifetime someone comes along that changes everything. Yet when young Simon looked like any other boy. He was not the tallest in his team. But from an early age Simon knew what he wanted to do with his life. When an elderly relative asked him one Christmas the obvious question,

Little Simon what do you want to be grow up to be when you are older?

Without hesitation Simon replied in a firm tone,

I want to be a football player!

The elderly relative laughed as he patted Simon on his head. But he failed to see the look in Simon's eyes that spoke of the sheer determination behind those words.

When Simon finally got to choose his school sports he picked tennis for a summer sport and football for his winter sport. Too short ever to be a truly great tennis player Simon soon settled on football as the love of his young life.

 Still small Simon was not a natural defender. But he was quick off the mark. He could run all day. Early on he learnt how to propel the round ball with his forehead. Then there was his eye to feet coordination. Simon could score goals with both feet. His early coaches saw how this could benefit this small player. They all encourage him to continue this practice of scoring with both feet.

At this early stage of his life Simon was allowed to just play as many games as possible. Over the cooler months he also trained once a week   Simon played with his peers on early Saturday mornings then backed up to play with older boys on Sundays. He loved scoring goals. Many larger boys were left behind as Simon broke free from their snares to score yet another goal. His coaches loved his enthusiasm his dedication to training his smiling disposition. His peers loved playing with Simon because he helped their team win many matches.

Finally Simon made it out of the Junior ranks. Now he had to find a club ready to take a chance on developing his unique goal scoring ability.  At senior levels many young stars never made it out of the 'nursery'.   Simon was determined to do anything to make it at this much higher level.

Chapter 1  

Born in Syria, Simon had to follow his parents on the migrants trial. After three years as a child in a refugee camp in Jordan, he traveled with his family to Australia,. He was just in time to start school with children of his own age. 

Simon was a fast runner, which many bullies realized too late. Little Simon could outrun even boys much bigger than him. Learning to side step on the run helped him avoid many ambushes set by these bullies.

Simon loved football. Simon's father could have been a top footballer for Syria. That dream was dashed by the long civil war in his homeland. As soon as his son could run, Simon's father had been coaching him. Smaller sized footballs were used for this still very young boy. Goal posts were his family's garbage bins. Football boots were unobtainable in the refugee camp, so Simon had worn sneakers provided by the UN refugee agency. Now his father could afford to buy Simon a pair of second hand boots.

Simon wore these boots all the time around the house. He would have worn them to bed if his mother had let him. They only had one small sized soccer ball, so Simon had to be careful kicking it around the streets where he lived. Father and son went to every football game in which their new city's top team was playing. As Sydney had opened its arms to Syrian refugees, Simon's father insisted that his family support Sydney's football teams.

When he was at primary school, Simon signed up for a local football team. His father still coached him, but Simon spent a lot of time with his teammates. Having eye foot coordination skills rare for such a young boy, Simon played in positions he would dominate for the rest of his life. Simon scored goals with boring regularity. Few games in which he played did not see at least one Simon Special as his father called his goals. This ability to score made Simon popular with his teammates.

Simon struggled with school work. While he was good at Maths, Simon had difficulty with English, which was his second language after all. Reading was not Simon's strong suit. This made him even more popular with his mates. These young Aussie boys also struggled with reading and they felt comfortable knowing that Simon shared their difficulty.

Early teenage years were dominated by football practice from April to September. Simon played for his school team on Saturdays and for a local junior football team on Sunday. Very fit and very fast, Simon relished this double helping of the sport he loved. 

His parents steered him to other sports when the soccer season ended. Simon played summer tennis, competed in a local swim meet on Thursday, took up running for a while and even played cricket. Spring and Summer sports became an adventure for Simon. His fitness, sharp reflexes and determination to succeed helped him shine.

But every April Simon returned to football. By the time he was fourteen Simon knew the names and sports records of every top Australian soccer player. Simon was an avid Sydney football fan, just like his dad.

Simon's goal scoring ability was finally noticed. His favourite football team's franchise gave him a youth scholarship which paid for professional coaching sessions once a week. When he turned seventeen, Simon was signed up to a professional football contract. For a year he played in the Sydney franchise's junior team where his positional play and fitness were taken to a much higher level.

When he left school, Simon was placed in the Sydney franchise training squad. Slowly his skill levels grew until Simon knew all the professional drills, calls and secret plays. Eventually his first top level game arrived. In the short time he was on the field, Simon found himself in front of his opponent's goal. His boot flashed and much to the delight of his fans he scored his first professional goal. It was to be the first of many.

Chapter 2  

It was a time to learn how to survive at a professional level and prosper. Simon was young and did not have the body weight to stay firm when challenged. He had to hover wide of the goal where he often had little chance of scoring. So at the end of each training session, Simon spent an hour developing an explosive turn of speed. A professional sprinting coach happened to be at Sydney Olympic Park watched Simon repeatedly run short sprints. As she approached Simon, she realized how young he was. Walking right up to him and looking Simon in the eyes she said in a friendly tone of voice,

Hello, I am Janet Zelma. I coach aspiring female sprinters trying out for Olympic selection. I saw you play last Sunday. Today I watched some of your sprinit training drills. Have you had Olympic sprinting training?

Janet was the same age as Simon's sister. He replied in a friendly manner,

Hi, I'm Simon. No my training is all for football. Last Sunday was my first professional game.

And you scored your first professional goal. Very impressive. said Janet.

In a self depreciating tone Simon replied, 

I was lucky. The goal keeper came off his line. He did not respect the boot.

Confused Janet asked, 

Sorry football is not my specialty. What do you mean by the goal keeper not respecting the boot.

Simon replied softly, 

It is an ancient football saying. My father, my grandfather and my great grandfather played club football. They would take my father to games chanting, 'Respect the power of the boot.' It means the goal keeper should always watch the boots of the striker. 

Janet said eagerly, 

Simon, I am also a talent scout for the Athletics Academy. You would be a very good Olympics' sprinter. Would you like to give another sport a go?

In a firm voice Simon responded,

  No thanks. Football is my game. I owe it to my father to play for football and will devote all my energy to that goal.

Surprised at Simon's strong ambition, Janet asked, 

Isn't there room for both?

In an even firmer voice Simon said,

 Perhaps, but I can't take any chances. Football is a forty week a year commitment. In the off season I have to work on my aerobic fitness. Sorry, but I don't have time for sprint training.

Janet knew she had lost the argument and said disappointingly, 

That's too bad Simon. I have rarely seen anyone run faster over ten metres. If I can help with your sprint drills please contact me at the Academy.

Thanks Janet smiled Simon, I may take you up on that offer one day.

Chapter 3  

Simon now had forty seven weeks of his year planned out by his new football manager, Tamun.  Pre-season training for seven weeks followed by forty weeks of club commitments during the season consumed most of his year. On top of this junior international training plus appearances in the Australian Under 23 National Side consumed his attention and energy.

Once those commitments were met, he still had two private sessions of out of season aerobic fitness drills to complete. With only three weeks free of any football commitments, Simon was keen to travel overseas. One year he visited South Africa for a safari. The next year he visited Canada and camped in the wilderness. This was followed by an experience of a lifetime when he went on a rowing adventure along the Amazon River.

Always conscious of keeping in contact with family, Simon attended family weddings, funerals and other special gatherings. Not yet a football celebrity, Simon could walk freely in public. But his face was being recognised by the young supporters of his franchise.

All that got more intense when Simon finally played in a top football league game. His speed matched by his goal scoring ability thrilled the sports commentators and media writers. Scoring three goals in his first appearance in that league marked Simon as a future star. 

One commentator describing play leading up to what was the winning goal said, 

Using the common 'W for Win' tactic, this Sydney team has scored the goal of the season.  Scored by their youngest player Simon, the goal was so spectacular this young player has shown that he had the look of brilliant striker. 

From that date Simon's teammates referred to him as The Brilliant One. Little did that know that in time this amusing nickname would stick to Simon like glue.

Quickly scaling up the football players ladder had Simon going from bench player to starting team in just one season. Some of the senior players thought that Simon was being pushed forward too quickly. But the lack of goals scored by these senior players forced the coach's hand. Simon may have been too young, too immature physically and mentally, but he consistently scored goals against all odds.

The coach depended on Simon's ability to score at least once a match. Without upsetting the senior players, the coach played Simon as a roamer, allowing Simon to play as close to the opposition's goal mouth as possible. At the end of the season, Simon was awarded top goal scorer for his Club.

Simon caught the eyes of selectors for the Junior Socceroos. He found himself at the Football Academy preparing for matches in regional Australia. Starting on the bench, Simon played and scored in every game. At the end of season Simon went home for a well earned rest. After a brief overseas trip he returned to preseason training. Then at the start of the next season Simon was refreshed and invigorated.

that next season saw Simon in the starting line up as the franchise team's back up striker. In trial matches he scored two goals a match and in the final selection trial four. Speed to burn,