Rotorua Boys' High School footballers George Parry (left), Liam Peterson and Kelvin Cunliffe, along with John Paul College's Logan Nathan, have been selected to tour America. Photo / Stephen Parker
Rotorua Boys' High School footballers George Parry (left), Liam Peterson and Kelvin Cunliffe, along with John Paul College's Logan Nathan, have been selected to tour America. Photo / Stephen Parker
The potential of a group of young Rotorua footballers has been recognised by selection for the University of Waikato Football Academy's 2019 North American Football Tour.
Rotorua Boys' High School first XI players George Parry, 16, Kelvin Cunliffe, 15, and Liam Peterson, 15, and John Paul College student Logan Nathan were named in the team which will play in a tournament and visit colleges in the United States in February.
The four boys also play together in the WaiBOP Federation Youth Boys Under-16 league for Rotorua United. Logan, who does not play for a school team, was named WaiBOP Under-16 Boys Player of the Year for his efforts in that side.
The three Rotorua Boys' High students enjoyed one of the school's most successful years of football.
They finished third overall at the Malcolm Cowie tournament, the second-tier national secondary school boys' tournament, and finished equal first with the Tauranga Boys' College second XI in the Baywide Youth Premier league.
George said it was "amazing" to be selected for the North American tour.
"I was over the moon. We'll play four games in the President's Day tournament as well as a friendly beforehand. It's another culture to experience as well."
Kelvin said he was most looking forward to seeing the level of competition in America.
"It will be good to see how good their footballers are. Along with playing football we'll do some sight-seeing and visit the colleges, we're there for 10 days.
"This year has definitely been one of our best, Rotorua Boys' have really made a huge step in the game in New Zealand. We're becoming more well known, the boys are playing hard and wanting it more than ever. The growth has been amazing."
John Paul College student Logan Nathan in action for Rotorua United. Photo / Supplied
Liam said the trip was also a valuable opportunity to be exposed to college recruiters.
"It's just a learning curve from here because we're still young. We're playing against some older competition so we'll be learning new things and just getting the mind right."
Rotorua Boys' High coach and director of football Mark Trembath said the boys were high calibre players and he had no doubt they would make the most of the opportunity.
"They've all been in the New Zealand age group framework for a number of years. We've got a really good academy programme here and good young players coming through. There are guys who step up and want it that little bit more and these guys are certainly some of them," he said.
Logan, who has also been a valuable member of the champion Rotorua men's tennis team in recent years, said a break from football last year made him realise how much he loved the game.
"I took last year off to pursue tennis, but at the start of this year I really missed playing football and I missed the team atmosphere. I just wanted to get back on the field with mates of mine and have a good time, so winning Player of the Year, I was quite chuffed about, it was cool to see I hadn't gotten to rusty with the break.
"I don't often get that pumped about things, but with this tour, when I found out I was on the team, I was straight on the phone telling people I made it, I was really excited to find out I'd made the team.
"Things on this scale, going overseas, it really exposes you to a lot of different things - a high level of competition, the facilities over there and the opportunities for Kiwis like us to maybe go over there on scholarships."
