Wagga City Wanderers' Aariz Ismail recognised by CPL coaches

Pushing himself to always be his best, ensuring that sacrifice was worthwhile, his efforts were rewarded when he was named player of the year for the Capital Premier League under 13s competition.

It was a hugely successful year for the Wagga side, who went through the season undefeated in their first run in the Canberra competition.

Humbled with the award, Ismail said the strength of their opponents helped push him to be better.

"I received player of the year, which was saying I am a player that showed an exceptional level of skill and stood out amongst the others," Ismail said.

"I knew I had to up my standards from last year, I had a really good year last year but I knew I had to play better, so I set my standards really high and always strive to be better.

"I think at the start of the season the other teams didn't really know who I was, but then I scored goals and they couldn't stop my speed.

"I always have a lot of confidence in myself because I put in a lot of hard work, I like to take on the left back and I like to take them on at the start of the game to know what I'm going up against.

"I was proud of myself because I've always wanted to get something like it and even though I've got it, I always like set my standards higher now, so I'll keep pushing for more awards like this next year.

"My family sacrifices a lot for me, we went to Fiji last year and then this year you have to travel to Canberra almost every second week, so I knew I had to make them proud, myself proud."

Though working hard on his skills during his own time, Ismail said he wouldn't be the player he is without support from those around him.

Not only was he supported by his family, but said Wanderers technical director Andrew Mason and coach Lucas Meyers helped keep him on track.

With this year's season all wrapped up, Ismail will be back in the Canberra action in 2024 after trialling again with the squad.

Hoping to challenge himself even more, he'll be playing up in the under 15s age group.

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Once again under the guidance of Meyers, he said he's excited to have a run against even stronger opposition.

"Lucas is a very good coach, he pushes you to be better and his guidance is very good," Ismail said.

"There's a few players I don't know [in under 15s] but there's a few I know from last year.

"You need to be friendly with your teammates, you need to know their names to call for the ball and even at training you need to have a few laughs, it just makes it a lot better."

For Ismail, the most important part of playing to his full potential is mindset.

Without a good mindset, he said, a team won't have success.

"This year was our first year in CPL and we were unbeaten all season, and that's because we had a very good mindset," he said.

"Sometimes we were down 2-0 and we just wanted to still win or draw.

"Mindset is number one, behind hard work I think mindset is number one because if you're good and you have a bad mindset, let's say you had a bad training session, or a bad game, you'd put a lot on yourself, you wouldn't get back up and try."

Hoping to become a professional player once he's older, Ismail said he's excited to continue to push himself to be his best.

With eyes set on NSW Country selection in 2024, the 13-year-old is willing to put in the effort to reach his goals.

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