Thomas Goodman: One of the Many Young Rising Stars of the Australian Paralympic Football Team.
Thomas Goodman has only been involved with Paralympic Football for a short time but has made an instant impression on Head Coach Paul Brown “Thomas is a fine young attacking player. He loves to take on players in the attacking third and has a good long range shot .Thomas plays off both feet and has good passing accuracy”, said Paul.
Originally from South Australia, Thomas started playing football at a young age, but never realised that one day he would playing for Australia. “It is such an honour to play for your country” said Thomas.
Thomas spends part of his time in Dubai where his parents live, but ‘commutes’ back to Australia for National camps and International tournaments.
Thomas made his debut for Australia in Canada in 2008 and now has more than a dozen caps for his country. At 20 years of age Thomas is one of the younger players in the National Team.
The National Team is made up of some very young players, but have competed against seasoned professionals from Russia and the Ukraine. When asked what it was like to compete against the world’s best teams, Thomas replied” at the moment they have our measure, but we are young and improving all the time. They better watch out in the next couple of years because they won’t know what hit them.”
Australia is currently ranked 10th in the world and will travel to The Netherlands in June to play in the World Championships. This tournament will be the major qualifier for the 2012 London Paralympics.
“Representing Australia at The Paralympics in 2012 is my dream” said Thomas. We have a lot of work to do before 2012, but I’m sure with the players that we have and the Coaching staff that we have I’m sure we can do it”.
“The culture that we have in the squad is very positive and it is so professional. We train and go into camp just like all the other National Teams. We do video analysis, lecture, and physiological training with our Strength and Conditioner, Kylie Johnson. It is hard work, but worth it for the outcome”
The players in the National Team are from all around Australia and go into camp at The Sydney Academy of Sport at Narrabeen a number of times throughout the year. “Paul and Assistant Coach Kai Lammert work us really hard in camp. It is hard work, but also fun! The camaraderie amongst the players is fantastic. We only see each other at National Camp and of course play against each other at the Nationals, but we are the best of friends and put our bodies on the line for each other once we put the green and gold on”.
Thomas is the Captain of the South Australian State Team and will compete against the other states from around Australia at the Nationals on 12th-15th April in Adelaide this year. “Our program in South Australia is only new, but we have a good young team and I’m sure we will be very competitive against Queensland and New South Wales, the powerhouses of Australian Paralympic Football”.
