Special Feature: Confidence is key according to Aman Hadid

The poised Greenacre born footballer has so far banged in four goals in four matches and his impressive displays have caught the eye of various A-League scouts.
Hadid?s story though is one of keen interest as to have gotten to where he is today; a hard road was certainly taken.
?It hasn?t been smooth sailing for me as a footballer, I?ve had a few bumps on the way but I am a believer that if you work hard and put in one hundred precent as well as believe in yourself, rewards will follow.?
Speaking about his year to date Hadid was delighted with his start even though prior to the season the ace marksman suffered a knee injury.
?I was prepared this year to put whatever I have to get to where I want to be.
?I?ve quietly worked behind the scenes in further developing myself as a footballer.
?I also took part in private training with a coach by the name of John Kelly who has taught me to be more confident as a player and also explained to me the theory behind the game which I then put into practice when I train and play with my team.
?At the start of pre-season training I did suffer a knee injury (MCL) after going into a fifty-fifty tackle with Steve Liavas which set me back a bit but I?ve since come back a stronger and more motivated footballer.
?In regards to the year so far I?ve worked under a very good coach in Blagoja Kuleski as well as my teammates ? I believe that we do have a lot of strengths in the team and feel as though we will have more to offer as the year progresses as you have to understand we are a new squad with a number of new faces and are slowly gelling as a team.?
One such aspect of Hadid?s game apart from his awareness and technical ability has been his shooting and this was proven when he scored Bankstown?s first goal with a scorching shot that smashed past Sydney Olympic?s Paul Henderson in their 5-2 loss during round 7 ? What made this goal even more special though was the fact that Hadid could have actually played for the Blues at the commencement of 2011.
?In regards to the goal, I was given a very good through ball by Steve (Liavas) and I?ve been taught to shoot to score and used that which worked out thankfully.
?It was a good start but was upset that we didn?t get on with job as silly mistakes crept into our game and they were to be our downfall as we lost on the evening.
?It is true though I could have been a Sydney Olympic player as I did commence pre-season training with them but unfortunately the club took too long in officially announcing whether I was in their plans.
?I went about it the right way and asked the coaching staff at Olympic if I could train with another side during their trip to Melbourne which I was not asked to attend and a former coach of mine at Sydney University John Caruana suggested I go to Bankstown.
?I started training there and Blagoja liked what he saw and told the club that he wanted me and I signed from there.
?In a way that goal against Olympic felt good as I wanted to prove to Peter Tsekenis I was good enough to be there but there was no hard feelings.?
The structure at Bankstown has changed drastically for 2011 as the club went through a whole new transitional phase appointing a new board, coaching staff and players. Asked what Bankstown?s fortunes were for the remainder of the year Hadid stated to Football NSW.
?I know we have not had the best of starts but I believe we will get better as time progresses.
?We all have two legs and a brain and if we train hard and sacrifice a few things then why couldn?t we make the top five this season?
?Obviously if we start to take things lightly, not put in the hard yards and lose our focus then of course we will struggle but I am confident the side will push on for the better as we have a good coach in Blagoja who can do just that.
?I believe that Blagoja was very brave to accept the role and I do think highly of him as a coach as he took players that other teams did not want – to further develop and make them into a team.
?I believe coaching is all about that, selecting players and moulding them as one and not selecting the best players in the competition and coaching them ? that is not good coaching in my opinion.?
The 22-year-old made his name in the Super League where he played at Sydney University before signing with the Macarthur Rams in 2010 before jumping into the NSW Premier League.
?John (Caruana) gave me my opportunity at Sydney University and lifted my confidence in working hard at my game and was one of the reasons why I continued to play on.
?Don?t get me wrong there was a lot of politics during my early years which pushed me back and at times put me off the game but John sat me down and gave me match time and trained me the way he could in getting over my hurdles.
?After a year at Sydney University, Macarthur?s Raul Blanco noticed me and asked me whether I was interested in signing for the Rams the following year which I accepted.
?Raul has also played a big role in my developed as a footballer as I learnt a lot during my time at Macarthur.?
Away from football Hadid amazingly has three other jobs that keep this enthusiastic youngster grounded but busy at the same time.
?I am a Real Estate Agent, I also work at Fairfax and the Sydney Morning Herald in the orders and publishes section, I train the Merrylands Girls Football side and of course play football for Bankstown City FC.
?The main reason why I have these jobs is a back-up in case football does not work out.?
The Hyundai A-League is somewhere that Aman hopes to be at one day and his dedication to the game as well as his ability has certainly caught various scouts? attention as Jensen Park has had some familiar faces from Australia?s top tier competition present.
?I?ve wanted to be part of the A-League ever since it commenced and have remained patient but I know that I am waiting for that club to give me a chance and I will show them what I can do.
?I am working hard towards achieving this dream and that is why I am doing whatever I can in using the NSW Premier League as a spring board for this.
?I want to achieve good results with Bankstown and hope that in turn that further helps me develop as a player and gain the attention of an A-League club.?
Hadid has had a small taste to what it feels like being a full time professional during trials in the United Arab Emirates and Dubai and also was part of Graham Arnold?s Australian training squad in 2007.
?Unfortunately things didn?t work out for me in the UAE and Dubai due to management issues but I did gain a lot of experience training and playing alongside some quality players.
?One club in particular that I was on trial at, Al Jazeera had former Dutch international Philippe Cocu playing there and that was amazing.
?I was also invited to an Australian training camp by Gary Moretti as I was based not too far away from where the team had assembled.
?I roomed with James Troisi and Billy Celeski but overall that experience was unbelievable as Graham Arnold, John Kosmina as well as the rest of the team treated me really well.?
Shifting back to the talk of the NSW Premier League, Bankstown have a huge match this Saturday as they tackle the new kids on the block Parramatta FC at Melita Stadium ? although winless, have proved to be a tough opponent this season.
?This game is like our Grand Final, we need the three points, we need to win this weekend.
?We have the attitude that every weekend is our Grand Final and that we need to be switched on and will fight to get those points till the very end.
?Although Parramatta have not won a game this year they will be at their very best in wanting to change that so we need to be very careful on the night.?
Wise words for a player that we could soon see grace various pitches from across Australia with an A-League club.
-By Mark Stavroulakis