He’s the first footballer to receive a scholarship at the Illawarra Academy of Sport for almost two decades and dreams of following in the footsteps of some of the region’s greatest ever players. At just 12 years old, the future looks bright for Ben Giason. The young midfielder became the first footballer since 1998 to join the IAS last October. A change in direction from the IAS to reintroduce athletes from team sports like football, as part of a Lone Star program, will give the Giason the opportunity to undertake a similar professional sporting education to gun exports Luke Wilkshire and Brendon Santalab. Both Santalab and Wilkshire attended the IAS and have gone on to play at the top of the sport, with the latter playing 80 times for the Socceroos, including at two World Cups. Giason dreams of one day following a similar path. “I definitely want to try and make the Socceroos in the future,” he said. A student at the Illawarra Grammar School, Giason admits to always having a love for football since joining an under-6s team for Coniston. He then moved to Football South Coast’s Skills Acquisition Program. “I originally started playing it because I was interested and saw it on TV, and it looked fun to play,” Giason, who will start year seven next month, said. “Then I have always liked it since. The team environment and hanging out with my mates. “[At the FSC SAP program] I learnt a lot of new skills – some key things with my skills, like vision and awareness.” Giason is the first FSC SAP player to join the IAS. Next season he will continue play in the Football South Coast association youth team, which plays against other associations from around the state. While continuing his on-field commitments with the FSC squad, he will receive more on and off field training from the IAS. “In terms of off field education we try to give them everything they need to be a professional athlete so that’s things like sports nutrition, sports psychology, media training. The works,” IAS program and athlete development manager Andrew Barrett said. “Then obviously they have their on-field component, however with soccer, they’re in our Lone Star program. “So they still have their individual coaches as well.” Giason has taken the opportunity at the IAS with both hands during his first four months working with the elite academy. “I was excited for it,” he said. “I wanted to do it because I thought it would be really good insight on how to be an elite athlete and learn about different aspects of it.”
