TAREE St Clare's High School student Charlie Pitt decided against nominating for a place in the Australian under 14 futsal team to tour England this year.
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He'd been to Spain with the national side in 2018 and Charlie's focus was on another overseas tour with the Australians in 2020 - the Brazil World Cup Challenge to be played in August.
"Brazil and Spain are the home of futsal,'' Charlie explained.
"I'd been to Spain, so I wanted to go to Brazil.''
He achieved his goal when he was named in the Australian under 15 side following the National School Futsal Championships played in Brisbane. Charlie is the Manning River Times-Iguana Sportstar of the Week, earning a $50 open order at Iguana.
Charlie was a member of the Eastcoast Eagles team at Brisbane - the side selected following trials held at Coffs Harbour. This takes in players from Bulahdelah to Byron Bay out to Tamworth and Armidale and remarkably Broken Hill.
Eastcoast performed reasonably at Brisbane, making the quarter-final where they were eliminated by the eventual champions. Charlie still has his arm in plaster after breaking it in the second last game.
"I still played in the last match,'' he said.
"It was okay.''
Charlie alternates between pivot and flanker and thought his form was 'pretty good' in the nationals. He reasoned that selection in the Australian under 13 team would have also helped his chances of going to Brazil.
Futsal representative Charlie Pitt is the Manning River Times-Iguana Sportstar of the Week, earning a $50 open order at Iguana.
He said the Australians won around 80 per cent of their matches in Spain when playing against local club sides. Charlie admits the World Cup Challenge will be a more difficult proposition. The team won't have any training sessions together before they head to Brazil, but Charlie understands there'll be plenty of time for preparation before the challenge begins.
Charlie started playing futsal about four years ago. Not surprisingly, football provided the introduction for futsal.
He's been involved with football since he was five, originally with Old Bar before shifting to Cundletown.
"Mum and dad like soccer and my older brother plays as well,'' he said.
This year he was a member of Cundletown's premiership winning under 15 team in the Football Mid North Coast Southern League. He usually plays striker or in the midfield. However, next year he'll be involved in the National Premier League (NPL) with Mid Coast Football.
"We started training this week,'' he said.
But futsal's number one for Charlie.
"It's a quicker game and the transitions are harder,'' he explained.
"Soccer can be a bit boring in comparison.''