The sky is the limit for one of Collie’s hardest-working young athletes in 2016.
14-year-old Kaidyn Watt has been selected to compete in the National Youth Championships this month.
The event, held in Coffs Harbour, will give Watt the chance to play in front of Australian Institute of Sport scouting officials.
Watt started playing soccer for local teams at age five.
Watt dived into a career in soccer with the Football West QBE Country Week in 2014, winning the Golden Boot.
He then trialled and was selected for the Football Federation South West Skills Acquisition Program (SAP) in Bunbury.
The program ran once a week over the year.
Since then, Watt’s achievements have included travelling to Thailand for the Phuket Cup for the 2015 WA Regional Touring Squad in December 2015, selection for the Perth Glory U15s side in February 2016 and playing as part of the Football Federation South West SAP touring squad through the United Kingdom in May.
Watt said he relished in the opportunity to tour and play soccer overseas.
“It was a bit scary at first, because I didn’t know what to expect but after that we got into the mojo of what we had to do and then it became a bit easier,” he said.
“The UK is a footballing nation altogether, and when we went there was green soccer fields everywhere and and just everything football – some of the biggest teams in the world.”
Watt recently played a full season, along with the National Premier League grand final, for the Perth Glory Under 15s side.
He said he steadily became accustomed to the Glory side’s intense training and competition regiment.
“It was initially a pretty big shock, it took me over a month to get the grip of what was going on but then I had to learn the way they play up in Perth because it was a higher division than what I was playing in before for [South West] Phoenix [Under 14s],” he said.
“So it was kind of like a massive jump, and being able to try to fit within the standard it was quite hard.”
Watt was also named in the Under 14 WA State Soccer Team in August.
Kaidyn’s mother Naomi Watt said the family was proud of his determination and accomplishments so far.
“Locally you rely on volunteers and as parents we did what we could when we could but any parent loves to watch their child play and succeed in something that they love doing,” she said.
Watt said his dream teams to play for one day were Arsenal and the Socceroos.
He said, no matter where he went throughout his career, he would always call Collie home.
