FC stars shine in Kiama

BRENDAN CRABB

TWO Sydney FC stars paid Kiama a visit recently to help the Kiama Junior Soccer Club (KJSC) through their paces.

Sydney FC players and former Illawarra juniors Brendon Santalab and Jacob Timpano took part in a two-hour coaching clinic at Kiama Sporting Complex last Wednesday.

More than 150 kids took part in a variety of training drills, with Santalab and Timpano lending them a few pointers and participating in a meet-and-greet session afterwards.

Santalab whose strike against Adelaide United was voted as the 2007-08 A-League goal of the year said he was surprised by the amount of support for Sydney FC in Kiama.

“We’ve done a fair few promotional activities down the South Coast and we didn’t realise we had such a strong supporter base here,” the star striker said.

“It’s not that far away from Sydney and it’s great to see Kiama people supporting us.

“We want to create awareness of the club and get more involved with the community.”

Visiting the ground for the clinic also brought back a few memories for Santalab, who played his junior football for Unanderra.

“It’s good to come back down the coast; I played on this ground several times and I injured myself quite badly here about eight years ago!”

The clinic was held as part of a Football Federation Australia-sanctioned off-season development program.

KJSC development officer Don Robb was excited at the prospect of these clinics becoming a regular occurrence.

“I hope to make it a regular thing, to have more interaction with the elite teams and develop football throughout the Illawarra.”

Robb said that the visit had been beneficial for the club’s players in more ways than one.

“It’s great that these guys can come back here and the kids can relate to them as people who came from the local area.

“It gives them something to aspire to.”