Craig’s a ball wonder

SILKY skills . . . Craig Gorey demonstrates his repertoire juggling with a football

WHEN it comes of tricks of the trade it is hard to beat freestyle footballer Craig Gorey who would certainly be a candidate for TV “Britain’s Got Talent” competition.

The 18-year-old from Coldhurst has perfected the art of ball juggling and other football skills to new heights.

Indeed, the former pupil at Counthill School has landed a new part-time job on the back of his footballing tricks with Oldham Athletic’s Community Trust.

Craig has been performing demonstrations to audiences who are left open-mouthed at the feats he can perform.

Craig has only developed an interest in freestyle football in the two years since he left school.

He said: “I watched videos on the internet and saw people doing tricks and I became fascinated how they did them.

“Before then I could only do a handful of kick-ups, but since then I have put in a lot of practice and hard work to get to where I am today.

“I practise every day, often for up to four hours. And I am always working on new routines.”

Craig is also taking a coaching qualification in the hope he can make a full-time career out of his footballing skills.

Incredibly, Craig was only discovered by chance two months ago when Oldham Community Trust held a kick-up competition for youngsters outside Spindles as part of their involvement in the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) campaign.

“We had never met Craig before and he simply turned up and his skills were such that he wiped the floors with everybody else,” explained James Mwale, Athletic’s community development officer.

Craig once played football for Boundary Park Juniors but after breaking his leg three times in a 12-month period at the age of 10/11 that effectively ended him playing football competitively.

Craig says the art of perfecting freestyle football skills is all about balance.

He continued: “My favourite one at the moment is to do two rotations of my foot in one touch which is quite difficult to do.”

Craig trains with a couple of other teenagers — James Hepworth and Jack Cocking — who are also dab hands at football skills.

And two years after being fascinated by freestyle football skills on vidoes, Craig has developed the art to such an extent that he has posted a couple of videos of himself on YouTube and which have been getting hits in their hundreds.