Teammate often becomes a place for a player to express their feeling and mind.
Teammate often becomes a place for a player to express their feeling and mind. In the current #GarudaSelect squad, there are several players who have known each other for a long time. There are Faqih Maulana and Frezy Al-Hudaifi, also Rendy Sanjaya and Aditya Juli who started their football journey together from a lower level.
According to these players, the presence of a familiar figure in the #GarudaSelect squad now makes all the challenges they face become lighter. Moreover, this is their furthest football journey since joining tournament after tournament from an early age.
"I have already known Adit since SSB, then in the Elite Pro Academy of Persebaya U-16 team, and now again we are here together. So we are close and can talk about anything, such as discussing training programs and other things," said Rendy.
"From my childhood I have known Rendy. We know and understand each other. This is also our first experience of playing football farthest from home. He likes to encourage me to keep the spirit for continously training, don't give up easily, and to be more confident,“ said Aditya.
Faqih was born in Bekasi while Frezy was in Jakarta. The two of them met for the first time in an early childhood tournament, Indonesia Junior Soccer League. Then, these two players both played for the Elite Pro Academy Bhayangkara FC U-16 team. Now, they have both passed the Garuda Select Program Batch III selection.
"The positive side is that outside the field we often confide in each other because we are both far from our families. We motivate each other to continue to be enthusiastic about training here. We also remind each other if for example there is a shortage or if we make mistake either during trainings or matches."