Ten-year-old Toby Dance of Hazelbrook has been mad about soccer since he was three and it’s a passion that will see him become a global jetsetter this year, representing his country in soccer in Spain and America.
Next month he’s off to mix it with the best coaches at Barcelona and Valencia in Spain and also train with the Barcelona Youth Squads after being chosen for a training opportunity with MVP Sports Academy in western Sydney.
Then in November he will represent Australia in an international futsal [indoor soccer] competition in Hawaii, after being selected during the National Futsal Championships in January this year. He was chosen after those national titles, which involved three days of games against teams from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania.
Toby picked up the passion for the sport at his older brother Jarrah’s training, which were being run at the time by their dad, Brian, a soccer coach.
“He would come to his brother’s training and I would have the kit bag and I would bring a set up for him and he would play for as long as he wanted and then he would have a rest and then get up and go again, so he’s been going to training for a very long time,” Brian Dance, said.
“It’s fun,” the Year 5 Hazelbrook Public School student said.
Toby kicked off at his local club, the Hazelbrook Hawks, winning the Perpetual Award for the Best New Talent. He started playing representative football for the Nepean Football Association (NFA) at age of seven, where he was awarded Most Valuable Player for all three seasons with NFA.
The dynamic midfielder is big on “positioning, passing and looking for gaps” says he prefers playing soccer to futsal.
“I like the bigger field, bigger goals, more people and more space”.
And he’s looking forward to his Spanish sojourn.
“I will go to Barcelona and train there for four days and verse their Under 11’s and hopefully meet all the players, and afterwards go to Valencia.
“It’s my birthday while I am over there. I’m just looking forward to the whole trip.”
Toby hopes to eventually play for his favourite A League team, the Wanderers.
The school is looking to run a fundraiser to support Toby’s passion. He is too young to travel to both locations alone so a parent will accompany him. He leaves for Spain on Friday April 9.
