Five youth footballers vie for chance to be official ball carrier at Champions League game
Nov. 11, 2009
By Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports. Story courtesy of adidas Singapore.
Saeki Osamura from the Singapore Sports School shows off his moves. (Photo 1 courtesy of adidas)
Vivo City, Sunday, November 8, 2009 – adidas is giving five lucky footballers aged 10 to 14 a shot at a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to be the official ball carrier at a Champions League match between APOEL FC and Atlético Madrid on November 25th.
Over the weekend, footballers between the ages of 10 and 14 were given the chance to showcase their talents with the ball. With a time limit of three minutes, they had to impress judges with their ball juggling and handling skills.
Pavithran s/o Anbalagan of Chestnut Drive Secondary School, Keenan Wozny from Glendale Primary School, along with Singapore Sports School students Saeki Osamura, Khairuddin and Mohd Hanafi Akbar are the selected five who caught the judges’ eyes.
Out of the five, only one will be selected to be the official ball carrier at the Champions League match between APOEL FC and Atlético Madrid and that decision lies in your hands.
The video of their performances are on Facebook and they are counting on your votes. Simply “like” the video to vote for that person.
Those that came on Sunday also had the rare opportunity to rub shoulders with national footballers Aleksandar Duric, Lionel Lewis and Mustafic Fahrudin who came by as guests of the event.
“It’s great to be involved in this kind of thing,” said Aleksandar Duric. “It’s a great opportunity from adidas for the younger kids and the prizes they are offering are really good! Kids should really come down to see how skillful they are with the ball.”
“More should come, but this is typical Singapore behaviour – kids are just so shy,” added the national striker.
Mustafic Fahrudin also said: “adidas always organise these kinds of great events! It’s good for the young kids to come here to enjoy themselves and at the same time, have an opportunity to go to a Champions League match.”
“Even I was a ball picker during my youth days. I think most professional footballers start like that – you begin as ball carriers when you are young and you will dream of playing in front of a big crowd. It’s a great feeling.”
As one of the judges, he just wanted to see the kids enjoy themselves.
“I want to see nice moves, but most importantly, I want to see them enjoy and juggle with a smile. I am not going to be the strict one!”
Contestant Yuvaraj from South View Primary shared his thoughts about the experience: “I couldn’t sleep last night! I have been training everyday with short breaks in-between and I hope I’ll get selected.”
Voting for the five finalists ends on November 11, Wednesday 8pm, and the winner will be announced on November 12, Thursday 12pm. Go to this link to vote for your favourite finalist!
Keenan Wozny from Greendale Primary is the youngest nominee at age 11 years old. (Photo 2 courtesy of adidas)
Mohd Hanafi Akbar was one out of three students from the Singapore Sports School who was shortlisted. (Photo courtesy of adidas)
Khairuddin, also from the Singapore Sports School, will be competing against four other contestants for a chance to become and ball carrier at a Uefa Champions League game in Cyprus. (Photo courtesy of adidas)
Hakim from Greendale Secondary was one of the many contestants who was vying for a place in the final five. (Photo 5 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
Marcus from the Overseas Family School trying his luck. (Photo 6 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
Yuvaraj from South View Primary was the final contestant of the contest, juggling the ball in a bid to impress the panel of judges. (Photo 7 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
National footballer Lionel Lewis shows off a few moves of his together with national teammates Mustafic Fahrudin and Aleksandar Duric who were also present at the adidas store. (Photo 8 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
National footballers Mustafic Fahrudin, Lionel Lewis and Aleksadar Duric were guests at Vivo City to promote the event. (Photo 9 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)
964 views | Written by YZ | Filed under: Youth in Motion, boys, football
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November 29th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Keenan
You’ve always been “pretty good”!
Good luck, i hope you get to be a champions league ball boy!!!
November 27th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Oh, I don’t know, I reckon I look pretty good.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
hanafi the best la!
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