Adelaide United touched down in Alice Springs ready to begin their Northern Territory tour.
Centralian football fans are in for a three-day football feast, with Adelaide United keen to embrace Alice Springs as its home away from home as part of an agreement with the Northern Territory Government to play a pre season match, hold open training sessions and foster football development in Central Australia.
The boys left a cold Adelaide mid-morning to arrive to a very warm Alice Spring to begin their tour of the Northern Territory.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by local fans and media wanting to see the Adelaide United players.
A short bus ride to the team hotel was followed by lunch where the Alice Spring itinerary was explained.
The afternoon had some of the Youth Team boys spend time embracing the community through school visits. Mark Ochieng and Jordan Pudler visited Ross Park School, Yirara School was visited by Ben Warland and Jordan Elsey, OLSH Traeger by Thomas Love and Ruon Tongyik and the final school, Bradshaw School, had Dylan Smith and John Hall as guest.
All the boys had chats with each school and answered any questions the student may have asked. The students were very passionate and were interested in how the players got to where they are today and they even asked a few FIFA15 related questions.
Once the visits were completed, the entire team had a light session on Traeger Park in preparation for tomorrow night’s clash against the Alice Springs All-Stars (Kick-off 7:00pm ACST).
Dylan Smith who visited Bradshaw School said it was a great experience to interact with the students.
“I enjoyed the school visit, it was a good experience – a small class but great to see how the kids are brought up here,” said Smith.
“We were focusing on dedication and how the kids need to remain in school, but if their passion is sport, then they need to work hard, but still stay focused at school.
Smith, who will in the squad that faces the Alice Springs All-Stars tomorrow night, said training was good and is excited to get valuable game time.
“Even though it was a light session, training was good and the pitch was very good,” he explained.
“I am looking forward to tomorrow night and getting some good minutes in my legs.
“It was also great to see the kids I spoke to today watching us train tonight.”
Adelaide United will take on the Alice Springs All-Stars at Traeger Park in the first match of their NT Tour. Entry to the Alice Springs All-Stars match is by gold coin donation at the gate.
