The world’s greatest athlete Usain Bolt from Jamaica, Olympic sprint super star and holder of so many records the computer listing them did a fizzer, has come to Australia to try out with the Central Coast Mariners A-League squad to make an entrance into the world of professional soccer.
We know from the media that Usain Bolt is a soccer nut. He watches the EPL like a hawk, he knows player’s names and the wherewithal of coaching methodologies and is fully conversant with the A-League.
He’s been talking about this for as long as this writer can recall, at 31, he’s still young and very fit and is he “fast” …. The news video clips of him at soccer training events illustrates he has plenty of soccer talent and is keen to give it a go.
Moreover, we all want to see him play soccer and hopefully he might get a run on the pitch after his trial period with the Central Coast Mariners.
Why Australia
Why come to Australia is initiate his career as a professional soccer player?
These are things we know -
The A-League is not that hot!
This means he just might get a run
He loves Australia
He enjoys Commonwealth camaraderie
He doesn’t need the money
His mum wishes he’d settle down and marry
What’s at stake
Nothing much. If he gets a run with the Central Coast Mariners he’ll enjoy the experience and could make Australia, his second home.
If he makes a go of it, he might try his hand at US Professional Soccer – they’ll be plenty of scouts looking at his soccer talent.
He has revealed his Christian faith steadies him and this is a good sign he might see things in proper perspective, win, lose or draw.
We like self-starters. It’s quite a move from straight line athletic endeavours to the adventures on a soccer pitch with all the vagaries of bad behaviours such as raised studs, the hard knocks, the tempers, the foul mouths. That’s the easy bit, then there’s the Australian media.
Wesley Tronson is the Regional Operations Manager of the 20 Gold Coast NAB Branches having been the NAB bank manager in Brisbane CBD. Wes lived in England for seven years to 2010 in banking and soccer.
Wesley Tronson's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/wesley-tronson.html
Wesley Tronson is an award winning sport writer who spent 7 years in England in soccer and banking. He is now a senior regional manager in banking in Queensland