3 YOUNG PLAYERS HAVE DONE THE IMPOSSIBLE AND QUALIFIED TO BE ASSESSED IN GREECE AT THE PRESTIGIOUS OLYMPIACOS FOOTBALL ACADEMY
A Melbourne Soccer organization, ‘Olympiacos Melbourne’ that has a special focus on supporting players from struggling families to progress their sporting careers, through their philanthropic soccer training initiatives, has triumphed in their first year of operation.
CEO, Steve Papadopoulos said he was thrilled with the encouraging result after applying for their first three young players forward to be assessed and all three players were successful.
The process to international soccer success is a difficult one. Firstly, the players need to have formal high level training and discipline that is in line with international standards. This is not always accessible to our youth, due to things like costs of training. Elite football training can be upwards of $20,000 annually for this level of instruction. This is where Olympiacos Melbourne excels due to their quality coaches and European skills training regime, in conjunction with their philanthropic endeavors, which in many instances can subsidize the majority of these costs.
This style of training offered by Olympiacos Melbourne encourages the players’ skill level to grow and improve their game play understanding and vision but most importantly they enable the players to develop ‘creativity to win’ using their ability to pre-think game play strategies.
Then if the players show talent, ability & the capacity to go to the next level, they are prepared to be submitted to Olympiacos FC Academy in Greece.
The applications are reviewed by a committee at Olympiacos FC in Greece and if successful, the players go through to the first stage of the formal ‘in person’ assessment process.
The young players from the Melbourne School were constantly assessed and had to pass their standards prior to being considered for the assessment procedure with the Greek Soccer Academy.
Once they passed their standards, they had to go through a rigorous application process with the highly regarded Greek Soccer Academy. ‘Olympiacos Football Academy’ has a network of global schools with thousands of students to choose from.
The Melbourne Schools assistant in Greece, who was once a professional player himself and now supports the Melbourne players while they are in Greece to attend the prominent Olympiacos Football Club Training Academy, was completely astounded that in all of his years in coaching, he has never seen such excellence in skill level come through their doors. This is a credit to the owner operators of Olympiacos Melbourne.
The young dedicated boys who were approved to go through the assessment process are Mehmet Inan aged 14, and brothers Domenic & Carlos Sleiman aged 13 & 15.
On Monday 19th September 2022 to Friday 23rd September 2022, the boys will be on the ground in Greece at the Renti Training Center and will be put through a demanding training regimen alongside Olympiacos Football academy players who are all competing for a position in their senior squad or seeking a professional European soccer career. The expectation is to get through to be formally selected for a permanent scholarship which gives a clear opportunity to become international senior players.
As word has spread, Olympiacos Melbourne Soccer School is continuing to assist other players who may be from struggling families, have a second chance at a professional European dream, which is a great outcome for the future of soccer in Melbourne. This is a superb international sporting alliance between Australia & Greece and demonstrates that companies that have their roots grounded in philanthropic outcomes can achieve great results.
Olympiacos Melbourne is providing equal opportunity with genuine intent and integrity.
Melbourne and Australia will be keeping an eye on these young talented sports boys as their future unfolds.