HARRISON King will get to experience a European Christmas first-hand after being selected to represent Australian club side Fremantle Muita Calma at the 2019 World Futsal Cup in Spain.
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Most importantly, how did he do it?
"I went down to Sydney for trials and trained for three or four hours and they had a professional player from Spain selecting the side," he said.
The East Coast Eagles goalkeeper certainly must have made an impression.
Three years ago, he started his futsal journey to the top and after a lengthy selection process, the Port Macquarie product was judged as the best option to battle some of the best clubs in the Europe.
"Teams from Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Italy all play off for the title," King said.
He will line up against known football heavyweights Barcelona, Inter and Corinthians in a tournament that has unearthed many superstars over the years.
"Neymar played in that competition in one of the Brazilian teams so that's pretty cool," the teenager said.
Neymar played in that competition for one of the Brazilian teams that plays in it.
- Harrison King
He was looking forward to challenging himself against the best players in the world.
"It's a big step competing against that talent over there, but it's going to be hard."
Six months ago, King went to Italy for a professional program where some of the best coaches Italian football had to offer put him through his paces.
There is little doubt that high-level experience played a role in getting him to the next level.
"When I was over in Italy I learned a lot; new technical and tactical techniques from the Italian coaches," King said.
"I was trained by the best Italian 'keeper over there which was incredible."
The talented keeper is currently doing a professional pathway training program in Italy with Italian clubs waiting until he turns 18 to finalise a professional contract
Instead of kicking stones, he used that time to his advantage and learned new ways of improving.
"It hasn't put me off, it gets me to strive even further to get that professional contract next year," he said.
"I think (the Italy training program) played a bit of a role in being selected for the Australian club team.
"Eastcoast Eagles training for the last 3 years has given me the opportunity to take that next step, but getting selected for your country is a bit of a surprise.
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