By Tyler Wright
A young Menzies Creek soccer player is preparing to begin a season playing in the Melbourne City Football Club’s U15s academy team, after being selected for the 18-person squad late last year.
Jensen Bowering, 13, began playing soccer at the age of six at Monbulk Soccer Club before playing at Glen Eira, where he has played for the last five years.
Jensen was given a letter of acceptance into the Melbourne City U15s team in the National Premier Leagues’ south division in late 2022 after being scouted by the club for 12 months.
Having trained with the squad since November, Jensen’s first match with the team will be against Kingston City Football Club at Casey Fields on Sunday 5 February.
“I’m a bit nervous, but mainly excited,” Jensen said.
“Being around really good kids, that’s pushing me to become better in a professional environment. It makes me want to work really hard.”
Jensen’s dad Gary said his son plays down his work ethic, training four days and playing once every week after working his way up from community sport to the NPL.
“He’s worked very hard for this, as have all the other kids there. It’s a very technical game… I’m very proud of what he’s done,” Gary said.
Jensen also spent five weeks in the UK from April to May last year, training with Stoke City Football Club U13 players to gauge his progress.
While Jensen said there is no timeline, he hopes to travel overseas in the future to share his skills with a team like Liverpool.
“I always knew I wanted to reach the top,” he said.
The National Premier League in Victoria is broken into teams based in the north, west, south and east of the state, with the U15s season running until April.
