Image by n.macca via Flickr

Chelsea’s Asian Soccer Star search in May 2009 , was the first of it’s kind to be held by a professional club and I was excited to have entered in the under-13 category. Since I supported Chelsea I was really excited about playing at Chlesea’s Cobham training ground; and may be even meet some of the players.

At the time, I was playing my football with Ruislip Rangers in Harrows premier league, having just moved from Hanwell Town in the Hayes and District league to play at a higher level.

On the day of the trial I was amazed at the size of the ground and how neat it was kept, I was even more amazed at the large number of kids that had applied for the trial. The really cool thing was that there was a mixed ability bunch of kids. Some were good, some average and many knew they didn’t have a chance to win. They just wanted to take part, and that was really cool.

I remember that day in May 2009 at Chelsea’s first Asian Soccer Star search like it was yesterday; it was hot, intense and changed my whole outlook on what it would take to become a professional footballer.

We were split into groups and taken through a number of skill, speed, agility and technical tests; followed by small-sided games. As the day went by you could see the competitive nature in the kids comming out, which was a good thing. What really surprised me was how competitive the parents were getting; that really is the worst thing that can happen to player, parents shouting from the sidelines. Luckily, my parents never did that.

During the trial, I was feeling confident that I had a pretty good chance of winning my age category and some of the coaches were actually hinting towards that. That confidence was a good thing for me because when I didn’t win, it really gave me a reality check. I realised that although I was confident about winning, I really wasn’t anywhere near ready for a trial at Chelsea. What my dad told me that day really stuck with me.

“Confidence can give you a false sense of security if you’re not ready”, he said. It took me a couple of months to understand what he meant… that’s the way he teaches me by giving me the tools and incentive to work things out myself.

Basically, I was confident because of the praise and compliments paid to me by my coach playing at a Sunday League level. This didn’t mean I was ready to play at an elite level, and apparently that showed at Chelsea’s Asian soccer star search; even though I was told that I came in the top 3.

I just couldn’t see it myself.

That day in May 2009 helped me a lot to accept where I was at the time and focus taking my training and playing to a progressively higher level until I was ready to play at the elite centre of excellence or academy level.

Today, I beleive I have achieved that.