Now that the A-League Phoenix season has come to an end, it is time for Liberato Cacace to go back to school.
With the start of the new term next week, the year-13 pupil will be back at St Patrick’s College in Wellington.
At the back end of the season, following a series of consistent performances for the club’s reserves team, he became a fill-in on the bench during an injury crisis, but ended up making seven appearances with six of those coming as a starter.
Cacace said balancing study and training can be difficult but he has been getting advice from goalkeeper Keegan Smith, who was in the exact same situation last year.
“It’s quite challenging to balance the two because I want to train every day with them but you’ve also got school that same day.”
“Rushing after training to school was quite hard because you’d be missing half the day.
“But having those supportive teachers and also the coaches, they always told me if you need time off training to go to school then you can.
“Some days leading up to my exams I’d maybe take one training day off a week to focus on the exams but it’s been good, I’ve received some results already and I’ve been getting solid marks.”
Through his role as a prefect, Cacace recently recruited a band of his schoolmates to attend a home game against Brisbane Roar – his sole appearance at Westpac Stadium.
He said it was awesome to have them in the crowd, dressed in their St Patrick’s College uniforms, cheering him.
Cacace was born and raised in Wellington. His parents are Italian, and his father owns La Bella Italia – an Italian restaurant in Petone.
Source
- stuff.co.nz
- stuff.co.nz
- Image: stuff.co.nz Phillip Rollo