Sprint star Bolt has until January to prove football talent
|Published
POINT TO PROVE: Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt. Photo: DAVID GRAY/ REUTERS POINT TO PROVE: Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt. Photo: DAVID GRAY/ REUTERS
Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt likely has until
January to prove he is worth a contract as a professional footballer,
the coach of Australia's Central Coast Mariners said Thursday.
"Usain is progressing and that's the main thing," coach Mike Mulvey
said. "From the outset, we said he needed time, we said we would give
him 12 months if need be.
"A reasonable assumption would be that around January we should be
judging where he's at. We're going to be ramping up our individual
sessions with him over the next few weeks, so he will be given every
opportunity,"
The 32-year-old Bolt, the world record holder over 100-metres and
200m, has been on trial with the A-League club since August and is
likely to play a third friendly for the team next month.
"I'm definitely excited and if I get to start it will be a big thing
for me," Bolt said. "It would show that the work that I've been
putting in is really paying off and the coach has confidence in me -
so that would be a big step for me."
The match on October 12 is against a local side from the Sydney
region and is to raise money for fighting Parkinson's disease.
The real business of league matches begins for the Mariners on
October 21 away to the Brisbane Roar - without Bolt in the squad.