THREE Collie soccer players were among those selected to play in an international tournament held in Phuket in December.
Curtis Jorgensen, 15, Kaidyn Watt, 13, and Tashian Pierotti, 14, were selected for the Regional Youth soccer team from hundreds of hopefuls at the 2015 Football West Country Camp.
The boys and their families travelled to Phuket, where they undertook training with their selected teams from across Australia, before taking on the other nations.
With only 16 positions for each squad, the boys were part of an elite few who were selected from all over regional WA.
Kaidyn Watt, who plays for Collie under 13 junior soccer team and Southwest Phoenix under 14, said it was a struggle to play in the humid conditions as the heat made the surface almost unbearable.
“It was really hot, we weren’t used to playing in that humidity, I think everyone lost a few kilos on the trip,” he said.
“I wouldn’t want to play in Asia again but I would like to play an overseas tournament again.”
Tashian Pierotti currently plays for Collie under 16 team and said his favourite part of the tournament was being able to see how other players from around the world play the game.
“It was interesting to see how the other teams interact and their team spirit,” he said.
Curtis Jorgensen currently plays for both Collie under 16 junior soccer team and Southwest Phoenix under 15, and said he enjoyed the experience.
“I found the heat pretty hard to play in as we hadn’t experienced those conditions before,” he said.
“It was also pretty cool to see how people in different countries live.”
Tashian and Curtis’ team took home the gold medal in the tournament, and both said this was the highlight of the trip.
Participants in the tournament included teams from Singapore, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Australia.
