The future is Asia: ACTAS boys touring China!
See updates in the comments attached
Canberra's Youth (And Goulbourn's) taste the future.
All aboard, this one stops in China lads!What a fantastic initiative by the Australian Capital Territory Academy of Sport(ACTAS). And what a commitment by the parents involved to fund their sons football and life journey.
The ACTAS boys team under 15 and 16's left Canberra on Sydney for a ten day of China, in particular Guangzhou,and QingYuan City, GuangDong Province.
A 4am start, a road trip to Sydney to save money, and the trip was under way.
It's no mean squad either. Chris Bush represents the Joeys (the Under 17 Australian National side) and Alex Meibusch, Steven Lustica, Ben Mitchell and Jonathan Reis may catch the eye of many Canberra football watchers. Either for their local football exploits, or for being sons of famous Canberran footballers of days gone by, or both.
First game, for the record, was against a team from Guanghzou, a team thought to be younger than the ACTAS boys. The ACTAS boys won 5-0.
Luke Pilkington, Sam Munro, Dino, Tom Rogic and Zvonimir Rogic all scored.
And any win in International football these days is great! So well done lads.
And with Australia's national sides playing in Asia, surely local football academies will be undertaking more of such trips in the future to give their players crucial experience. Hat's off to ACTAS for organising this trip.
Dare I say a bench mark has been set. Wonderful initiative.
Here's the touring squad:
Codey Larkin
James Bradbury
Luke Pilkington
Sam Munro
Edgar Daly
Jonathan Reis
Dean Tomeski
Zvonimir Rogic
Ben Mitchell
Alex Meibush
Chris Bush
Andrew Gibson
Declan Poon
Tom Rogic
Steven Lustica
Staff
Milan Milovanovic
Alan Bradbury
Lino Fiorese
Jennifer McKenzie
Kendall Rixon
6 comments:
Day 4 report from Alan B:
"...Some of the more interesting foods presented over the last few days include cows stomach, lotus root soup, pigeon, quail and quail eggs and prawns designed to be eaten shell and all. The boys have mainly stuck to a diet of sweet and sour pork, fish, chicken, duck, beef, chinese vegetables and lots of fried rice and noodles.
This afternoon we took a 60 minute bus trip through Guangzhou to the Guangzhou Football School. The game throughout was open and well contested. The competition was quite a step up from the 1st game with a 0 – 0 score line at half time. The boys finally won 2-0. Both teams had chances.
The first goal involved some lovely teamwork, especially from Sammy and Pilko with a one touch finish by Rogic. The second goal came from a nice cross from the left which tested the keeper. The keeper couldn’t’ hold it and Stevie placed it from the top of the 18.
In summary the referring was fair and correct, and both teams played in good spirit."
Day 5 report from Alan B:
"Today was a rest day. ...Early this afternoon we headed for the same shopping/retail area we visited earlier this week. ...We spent one hour at the “mouse” market. This included stacks of fake/near fake items including all kinds of clothing, socks, belts, shoes as well as watches, pens, cufflinks etc etc. This market was over two floors of a fairly large complex. We were encouraged to bargain and as you can imagine there have been quite a few tales relating to who got the best bargain and how. The store operators here are very sharp and tend to know enough English to carry on the essentials of bargaining.
After this we regrouped and went to a nearby shopping mall of 7 floors. Macdonalds was on the top floor and was visited by at least half of us. The shops here, including Macdonalds are very clean. Personalised service is everywhere. For example, in the supermarkets there are people standing in each aisle waiting to help or trying to sell a particular brand line. In Macdonalds there were people pointing out the shortest queue.
A marked difference to Thursday was the dramatic increase in the number of people in the streets. Even though it was Saturday all shops and Banks were open. We would say that a good slice of Guangzhou’s 10 million people were there today.
We left the shops at about 5pm and headed back to our hotel. It is not likely that we will get the chance to shop again. The base at Qingxin that we are going to tomorrow is about 2 hours by bus and quite isolated from the city."
Day 6, report from Alan B:
"We won the game 3 – 0. The boys played well in the first half. An early penalty was awarded to Sam Munro and Pilco slotted it home. Next goal came soon after from a beautiful cross on the baseline from Dean and a neat header by Zvon. The team played well for the remainder of the 1st half. Tommy Rogic scored the 3rd about halfway through the second from the top of the 18 yard with a nice first touch. After the 1st half, the 2nd was not as well organised. This may have been due to the opposition not being as strong and we therefore dropped a little.
After the game we travelled to the spa at Qing Xin. On the way we stopped at a very neat wayside restaurant constructed out of bamboo. This is clearly a resort area. The streets again are clean. On the way we noticed that the temperature had dropped to 15 degrees indicating we are further inland and higher up. Hopefully the smog levels will drop off.
The Chinese national team is here. Apparently on the news it was stated that they will do military training tomorrow and a training session tomorrow afternoon.
We checked in about 9.30pm. The boys had a hot/cold/hot recovery session and have now hit the sack. Recovery will be emphasised tomorrow in preparation for the two games Tuesday and Wednesday. Both games will be on the pitches here."
Alan B updates us from China.
We had a late start this morning given the late arrival yesterday.
Breakfast was at 9 am. After breakfast we walked over to where the
Chinese National team was training. Apart from us there were a number
of reporters and a security detail.
We watched through the fence for a few minutes then we were approached
by an assistant coach. Milo was asked where we were from. At about the
same time a television crew arrived and Milo was interviewed by a CCTV 5
(we later found out).
While Milo was being interviewed the boys were invited in to watch.
They crossed the pitch and took seats on the far side. In all we
watched a national team train for about 1 hour. This included watching 4
goalkeepers work on footwork and distribution, attack and defensive
drills. The assistant coach, also a Serbian (the head coach is Vladimir
Petrovic) invited Milo to sit with him and I understand gained some
insight into football in Australia.
Kendall then took the boys for a recovery session which utilised hot and
cold treatment.
Lunch was about 1230pm.
After lunch, a 2 hour bus tour was organised for us which took us
through the surrounding area. This was I think for all of us a real eye
opener. The bus toured a series of small roads and lanes. We were on
all weather concrete roads. The things that struck us most was the
dryness. Our translator tells us it is dry throughout China. Even so
this area is not that wet. We got of the bus twice, once was for a
small farm community which appeared to be quite dirty and run down on
the outside, the other was in a small town of concrete buildings with
multipurpose shops at their base. Highlights were the video store and a
store which had dried rat.
It was a real eye opener.
When we returned there was light training session followed by another
recovery session. This was held on the field we will play on tomorrow,
game at 4pm (7pm your time).
A small bus trip to dinner to the same restaurant we visited last night.
Someone has obviously been doing some positive work with the cooks
because the food was far closer to what we are used to in Chinese food.
There was sweet and sour, some dried fish with chillies, rise, noodles,
beef stir fry, egg omelette - no weird stuff like pigs lung, cow's
stomach etc. We have to admit thought that we are being very well fed.
The quantities are enormous and it just keeps coming.
We have just returned from dinner and Milo/Lino and Kendall are
presenting a video analysis of yesterday's game.
Oh, although we saw blue sky and clouds above us, the smog didn't quite
leave us today.
3 days to go so prepare the BBQ please!
Kind regards
Alan
Update from Alan Bradbury on the ACTAS tour of China
Day 8
Dear all
Most of us had an ordinary night owing to the floor above us having some
kind of party. Anyway, these things happen.
Breakfast was at 9am. Same fare as yesterday but without the Chinese
traditional noodles.
After breakfast we then watched the Chinese national team do warmup
drills for about an hour. Must say that these looked a little old
fashioned. Apparently the Chinese team is training here is is vary cold
where they normally train, up north.
Recover session in spa and pool followed with lunch at noon. From the
boys perspective I would say lunch was an improvement. dishes were more
basic with heaps of steamed rice.
After lunch boys were encouraged to have some quiet time with a
departure for the game at just after 3pm. Jen started strapping legs
and joints at about 2:30 and then right on schedule headed to the ground
with with esky, video camera, 2 cases of powerade, a couple of cases of
water. And still no significant injuries (touch wood).
Just as lunch started, Milo was grabbed by CCTV 5 again and interviewed.
The reporters think it fantastic to have a foreign team at the same
place. Apart from the fact that it makes for additional material it
allows them to seek an Australian view on their game. Important for the
qualifiers next year!
Believe it or not today was not as smoggie. The mountains behind us
were clearer and behind them was another even higher mountain range.
Game kicked off just before 4pm. In the warm up the opposition seemed
crisp, a little casual and very quick. We have noticed that all of our
opposition has arrived with enough players for 2 squads.
The final score was 4 - 2 with a 3 - 2 lead at half time. The team was
far more structured than the previous teams we have played and quite
talented. As a standard they were probably the best so far. They were
more prepared to get stuck-in. Scorers were Stevie, Zvonny in the first
half and Alex in the second. We won't mention Al's celebration.
The first goal against was caught high but ruled to have crossed the
line (no comment). The second was a defensive error. Keepers did well,
there were a couple of saves from some nasty free kicks in the 1st half
and Codey kept a clean sheet in the second half.
Although the refs were the same as the last two games the decisions have
been tougher. This is a good thing as it puts the boys under additional
pressure.
Both halves produced some nice football. There were some particularly
lovely passages where the team played out of trouble right for the very
back.
Boys have just got back from recovery. The fantastic portable cold
baths that we brought all the way home have just been used again, but
this time no pictures.
I think we are heading out to the same restaurant that we went to last
night.
We have been told that the last game tomorrow will be against a much
tougher opposition. Let's hope the boys do their best and come out of
it in good shape, pretty much injury free.
And thankyou Alan for the update, cheers Eamonn
Update from Alan Bradbury on the ACTAS tour of China.
Day 9.
The best game so far, a 0 - 0 result. The boys were tested quite well. Standard was well into our Canberra Premier League. Team they played was big, strong and physical.
Tour has ended on a great note. The improvement in the boys as a team and as people is phenomenal.
All staff members are very happy. Milo and Lino have done a great job. Kendall and Jen have done a great job keeping them on the park.
Another few days and more opposition would have been ideal, but in any event we are looking forward to coming home.
A great trip - sure you will here more from the boys when we arrive.
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