HORSHAM’S Sabian Panozzo and his Victorian soccer side came away from the weekend with a silver medal at the National Cerebral Palsy Football Championships in Sydney.
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The 14-year-old played against people much older than himself and said he had a great experience at the tournament.
The team played two games on Thursday, beating Western Australia and losing to New South Wales, the reigning champions.
Victoria then beat the ACT and Western Australia again on Friday, beat the ACT on Saturday and then played New South Wales on Saturday too.
READ MORE: Sabian’s disability doesn’t hold him back
Victoria met New South Wales again on Sunday in the grand final.
New South Wales featured some Pararoos players and were of a very high standard. Victoria, who had their own contingent of Pararoos players, pushed the side to extra-time with the scores at 0-0 after the full 60 minutes.
“I played 10 minutes and it was pretty intense when you are out there,” Sabian said.
“It was 0-0 after full-time but then they scored one in the first period of extra-time and two in the second period.
New South Wales have now won 14 championships in total.
In his first competition, Sabian played his role mostly from the bench.
On the Saturday the players who had had limited game time had the opportunity to play most of the game against New South Wales.
Sabian said it was a fantastic experience to have played in the national championships.
“It was crazy being there and off the pitch everyone from the other teams were so welcoming,” he said.
“After the grand final some of our teammates were crying but the opponents always said how well we did. Everyone was so proud and supportive of each other.
“I would definitely love to be involved again.”
