The best experience of Sean Aslin's young life - immersing himself in Spanish soccer for a month - has fuelled his desire to become the best version of himself as a player.
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As such, the 20-year-old Tamworth High alumnus hopes to relocate to Newcastle and play there in the near future.
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For now, however, he gets his soccer fix at Tamworth FC - making his Premier Division debut for the club in their 2-1 defeat of South United at Johnson Field on Saturday.
Aslin left Souths to join Tamworth FC, for reasons he did not want to elaborate on, after signing with the former this season following a lengthy stint at OVA. He was a Souths junior.
It was a month-long stay at Spanish La Liga club Levante UD in May last year that exposed him to an experience that seeped into his being.
The transformative sojourn involved him living with nine other Aussies and a Colombian at a two-storey Valencia apartment while trialling for Levante - a process that involved training and games.
It was organised by Valencia-based GM Globalsports, which claims to provide a pathway into European soccer for young players. He was put in contact with the organisation after National Scouting Report Soccer Australia contacted his mother, Michelle.
NRS claims to be America's premier scouting service for college coaches, and Aslin popped up on its radar at some stage. He sat for two online interviews before being accepted to trial for Levante.
"It was top notch," he said of the experience. "It was so good, so rough down there - top-quality football."
Aslin, a winger, said he was treated like a professional player - including being fed each day.
"They take care of you," he said, adding: "My ultimate goal was to improve my soccer, which I did. I would have loved to get picked, but it was really, really tough to get picked."
He continued: "Ever since then I've just really wanted to see where I can go [in soccer]."
None of the Australians he lived with were signed by Levante.
As with previous seasons, Aslin is juggling soccer with hockey (he plays first grade for South United). But with the men's hockey competition being shifted from Sunday to Saturday this year, that has become problematic.
Sometimes the starting times for the sports clash, so he has to choose one over the other. On other occasions, he has to leave soccer early to get to hockey, or arrives at the hockey with the match already under way.
Playing two games a day is "tough", he said. "But I've been doing a lot of fitness on my own, so I'm pretty fit and capable of doing it."
Before linking with Tamworth FC, Aslin was not a fan of the club.
"It's a lot different than what outsiders see," he said. "We just play the right football, good football. We actually go for the ball, and we play tough - how it should be played."
