ZIGGY North battled a number of injuries when playing for Manning under 15s in the recent Australian futsal championships held in Sydney.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Shin splints, a torn calf muscle and issues with his Achilles tendon made life difficult, almost from the first game.
However, Ziggy, who played in the pivot position, turned out in every game.
"And I only had to be replaced once,'' he said.
"I was pretty pleased about that.''
He played pretty well too. Ziggy was named in the top 10 All Stars at the conclusion of the championship, even though his team wasn't among the front runners.
To cap that off, Ziggy has been named in an Australian under 17s side to tour Italy in October. He is the Manning River Times-Iguana Sportstar of the Week, earning a $50 open order at Iguana.
He'll be among the youngest players in the squad.
Last October Ziggy was in a national team that went to Greece for 12 days and he's hoping this year's tour will match that adventure.
The Australians played 10 games in the 12 days but also had time for some sightseeing.
One of the many things that Ziggy learnt on tour was that size doesn't matter in futsal.
He explained that in his experience the bigger players tend to dominate games here.
"But there smaller, skilful players caused more problems,'' he said.
The tour to Greece was a family affair for Ziggy, with mum, dad and sibling all heading over.
However, he'll be flying solo to Italy.
As is usually the case, Ziggy came into futsal from football.
He was initially a rugby league player with the Old Bar Pirates juniors, but switched to football when he started school at the Manning Valley Anglican College.
"They didn't play league there," he said.
"Everyone was playing soccer (football), so I joined in.''
He linked with Cundletown in the Football Mid North Coast Southern League, captaining them to an under 12 premiership, before successfully trying out for the Mid Coast Football under 14s last year to play in the National Premier League.
He started training with the MC Football under 16s - skipping an age division - this week, with trials to get underway next month.
Playing in the NPL requires training sessions at Taree and Port Macquarie during the week and regular trips to Newcastle for matches, and Ziggy thanks Taree business Jamestrong Precision Packaging for sponsorship to assist with the costs.
He also dabbles in a bit of power lifting but says football and futsal keep him busy most months a year.
Ziggy has no hesitation in nominating futsal as his favourite. He enjoys the physicality and speed of the game.
"I think it's more skilful,'' he added.
Ziggy also acknowledges the work put in by his futsal coach, Michael Wallace for the guidance he has provided.
