Interviewed by Suzanne Packer
Pierre is about to encroach on an invitation to a bootcamp with JUVENTUS Soccer Club, Torino, Italy.
At just 16 years of age, Pierre may claim his melting pot of genes as his father is a Lebanese New Zealander and his mother Serbian Croatian. Surely his warrior and tenacity attitude come from his father and his technical, tactical, calculated and planned-moves-technique from his mother, who also has 2 nephews playing soccer in England.
To his credit Pierre has already attended bootcamps in England, Dubai and USA and is genuinely excited about being in Italy next month.
At the tender age of 4, Pierre started mucking around with a soccer ball – mostly bashing it against the fence, house walls and over into the neighbours’ properties. Consequently, he was always in trouble with his parents. However, that reprimanding was overridden when his mucking around, became an obvious potential talent, being able to kick a goal with both left and right foot.
Pierre currently plays for Brimbank Stallions, State League 1 Team and Melbourne City under 18’s. He has spent many hours studying and researching the game.
He names amongst his favourite players; Pele, Maradonna, Beckham and especially looks up to Tim Cahill and the 2014 World Cup and all the dedicated work Cahill has done to promote Australian soccer to the world market.
Pierre states he must watch his diet after his sweet tooth led him to a constant consuming of chocolate, lollies, biscuits, and cakes. However, he is now doing a balanced intake of fish, meat, fruit, and vegies. Then, he confessed the only weakness he has is hot jam doughnuts and can scoff down 6 at a time. Wow!
He has a stringent exercise regime…… 5 days at high School where he trains in the morning then individual training in the evenings…… matches on the weekends. In between all this he loves to spend quality time with family and friends and his other passion is music and dancing. Whist Pierre doesn’t speak Arabic he assures me he knows all the swear words (that’s what the Lebanese teach you first) but he sings many songs in Arabic to his father’s credit.
Pierre mentioned that MITRE produce the best soccer balls in the world, and he favours NIKE for their clothing and sports apparel. And he desires to become a professional soccer player and or become a track sprinter, having won many races.
Finally, Pierre says his dream, after he has made his mark on the Soccer World, is to own a yacht and cruise the world.
Best wishes, let the Lebanese and all communities get behind Pierre Abouzeid and support him with pride. Go Pierre, go hard.