"Wow."
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That was all former Socceroos skipper Paul Wade could say after his visit to Orange over the weekend as his training sessions and mini World Cup were flooded with juniors seeking to come close to greatness.
Wade was "flooded" with kids for the Saturday morning seven-a-side tournament organised by Waratahs Football Club, which massively exceeding expectations for numbers.
"We were thinking we'd have about 50 kids, then it got to 60 and 70 and 80 and they just kept coming down the hill, we thought we'd run out of grounds," Wade said.
If we help them stay engaged with the sport, they'll do it on their own.
- Paul Wade
He said it was a "fantastic" sign for the sport.
"Football is flourishing in Orange," he said.
Returning to the city after a visit in 2017, Wade held a training session and discussion for juniors on Friday night before Saturday's tournament, with the discussion not just covering football.
"We had the first hour talking and second hour you get into examples of what you talk about with teamwork and resilience," the animated Wade said.
He also spoke about the "hardest time of my life" in dealing with epilepsy, which left him requiring an operation to remove part of his brain.
Wade showed video clips of him collapsing on the field in Buenos Aires in 1993 in front of Diego Maradona, and again live on TV in 2001.
He said the clips helped open up the discussion with children - as did the offer to show them pictures of his brain during the operation.
"The parents all at the back said "Nooo!" but the kids leapt at it," he laughed.
"I talk about anything and everything with their lives, I'll say I decided to be a Socceroos player but someone in year eight or 10 decided to be a doctor and they did that operation [on me].
"I ask them what they want to do."
Wade is now a public speaker by trade, and is animated and vibrant on the side of the pitch or when talking in front of a crowd.
He said he may have even seen some of the next batch of Socceroos.
"There were four-year-olds who were running around and didn't stop for the whole hour and a half, I'm thinking 'what are you feeding these kids out here?'," he said.
"You can't make these kids Socceroos, they'll make themselves Socceroos but what you have to do is keep football fun and keep them enjoying themselves.
"If we help them stay engaged with the sport, they'll do it on their own."
The former national skipper's trip west to Orange was also focused on bringing more girls into the fold and playing sport, and he was encouraged by the response.
"There's a focus on getting a lot of girls involved, the AFL has been doing good things, Rugby League have as well, but football needed a bit of a boost," he said.
He also said the senior's competition and training session was positive to see.
"We weren't flooded with seniors but they were all excited and all very keen to keep track of the score which is always good to see."
"From what I saw here the sport is in very good hands."
Wade also heaped praise on Robyn and John Churchland, who organised his trip to Orange, saying the city's football community was lucky to have them and couldn't wait to come back to the colour city in the future.
"A lot of people think 'that would be cool if that happened' but but Robyn and John were actually driving it… they're very passionate people," he said.
DO YOU WANT MORE ORANGE SPORT?
- Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below ...