Two Wagga boys will rub shoulders with Australia’s most elite teens at the National Youth Championships in Coffs Harbour next week.
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Country NSW representatives Cooper Stormonth, 13, and Kai Watts, 13, keenly await the challenge.
“It’s different to our intensity,” Watts said.
“They play high press, you have to know how they play.”
Watts likes calling the shots at centre-back.
“I can see the whole field,” he said.
“I get to control the game.”
Watts plays a range of sports, selected for GWS Giants and representative cricket development programs this year.
“I do play other sports and I enjoy them but I’ve stuck with soccer,” he said.
“I prefer to do it over anything else.”
For Stormonth, soccer’s the only sport he has genuinely enjoyed. He prefers the freedom of the left wing.
“Being able to run up and down the sideline is always fun,” he said.
“I enjoy it the most when I’m on the crowd’s side.”
The boys have been absorbing tricks of the trade under a strict coach at two training camps, and two separate sessions with the squad in Sydney.
“He doesn’t like us mucking around or anything otherwise we get a consequence,” Watts said.
“We get a lot out of it.”