Young Roos Tour Bolivia

THE Joeys will depart tomorrow (Wed) for an altitude research tour of Bolivia prior to World Cup qualifiers next month, with the trip partly funded by Qatar's Aspire Academy.

Creating a stronger link between academic research and player development, the tour to Bolivia, funded by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), Victoria University and Qatar’s Aspire Academy, will give the Joeys experience in playing at altitude prior to their World Cup qualification campaign.

“This trip will deliver outstanding opportunities for the traveling group of 20 players and coaching staff; to be immersed in the South American football culture for three weeks will be of great benefit for everyone,” said Joeys head coach Alistair Edwards.

“It’s a first for all of the players and we will all learn a great deal from this experience to add to the contrasting football styles we have already encountered.

“We have identified specific areas of improvement from our tournaments in Laos and Saudi Arabia and to have the team together for this extended period will enable Tony (Vidmar) and I to focus on fine tuning these individual and team aspects in preparation for Iran.

“I have been a staunch advocate of Australian academia and our world renowned sport scientists to become more involved in Australian football, it’s quite significant that this expertise has for the first time targeted football for research, I hope that this is the first step of many whereby we can partner with such expertise to assist us in our quest of becoming a world leader in football as well as sport science.”

Acting AIS Director Phil Borgeaud said the AIS had a long and proud of history of supporting the development of the Australia’s elite football talent.

“This tour is a great opportunity for the Joeys to prepare for their World Cup qualification campaign but it is also a critical research tour for the AIS in the field of altitude training, particularly as to its utility for team sport preparation,” said Borgeaud.

“This partnership between the AIS, Victoria University and Aspire, along with the FFA, is crucial to giving the Australian athletes and teams the best possible support in their quest for international success.”

Joeys Bolivia Altitude Training squad

15 August – 6 September

Daniel De Silva

Rocco Pizzata

Liam Rose

Steve Kuzmanovski

Darcy Madden

Matt Schmidt

Andre Jannese

James Baldacchino

Josh MacDonald

Matthew Stewart