November 13, 2013
Two young South Burnett sports stars are packing their bags and heading to Rio de Janeiro to represent Australia in a touring 15/16 girls futsal team.
Kingaroy State High School Year 10 student Bella Neil and Year 11 student Hayley Hunter were selected for the international tour after outstanding performances at the National Club Futsal Championships in in Sydney last January.
They will fly out to Brazil on Saturday and won’t be back in Australia until December 3.
During the trip, the girls will visit the Brazil Soccer Federation’s training camp and receive high quality training at the Atlético Mineiro Training Academy and the Minas Futsal training centre.
They will also get the opportunity to compete against some of the best players in the world.
As guests of top Brazilian soccer team, Clube Atlético, they will also watch the elite team train, meet the players and attend a National League game.
But it won’t all be hard work for the duo. At the end of the tour they will spend two nights in Rio where they will visit the massive Maracana Stadium, which was built for the 1950 World Cup, and other well-known landmarks including the Christ the Redeemer statue which towers over the city and Sugarloaf Mountain.
Hayley and Bella are accomplished sportspeople in other codes as well.
They are both members of the South West Thunder soccer team.
Hayley has also been training with the Queensland City Futsal Team every weekend at Oxley getting ready for the 2014 National Futsal Championships in Sydney in January.
She was also a finalist in the recent Bass Blue Sportsperson of the Year award at Kingaroy State High School after being named age champion for athletics and cross country; and representing Wide Bay at touch football, athletics and cross country.
Bella is also a Wide Bay rep in U15 soccer and volleyball; and picked up the KSHS awards for U15 Best and Fairest for soccer and volleyball.
The girls have been given a helping hand on the trip to Brazil by way of a grant from South Burnett Regional Council’s Elite Performance grant program.
Mayor Wayne Kratzmann this morning presented the duo with a cheque for $2000 as well as two South Burnett gift packs to help spread the word about the region overseas.
He congratulated them and said their achievements were “really amazing”.
