Nick Sorras is keeping soccer in the family. The 23-year-old followed in his father’s footsteps, playing for Sydney Olympic, the same team his dad had joined years before.
“We’ve got a few older Greek guys who come to the games and ask me where my dad is and tell me the stories about him. It’s always good to be at a club that he played for and our name is in it a little bit so I’m proud to put on the jersey and keep playing for them,” Sorras told Neos Kosmos.
The young keeper has been around the block a fair amount, starting off with Olympic as a junior, before joining the Central Coast Mariners youth team, followed by Sydney FC’s youth. It was however Olympic that called back his name like a siren and where he has made his home that last two years.
Despite growing up playing across the field, Sorras found that his real passion was in between the goalposts.
“I definitely think there’s a bit more pressure, especially for the defenders and goalkeepers, that backline of the field. If anything goes wrong we’re the ones blamed, but that pressure is something that I really like and really enjoy. It’s probably what draws me to goalkeeping because I like having things on my shoulders and having expectations to fill, I really enjoy that. It makes things more exciting as well.,” he said.
Sorras talks about his Olyroos highlight, the moment that sparked him to put on the gloves and his excitement for the FFA Cup.
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What drew you to football?
My dad used to play soccer, he used to play for Sydney Olympic back in the day so I always grew up with soccer. My brother and I used to play so it was just the main sport we used to do in our spare time.
I fell in love with it and always wanted to be a professional.
It’s game day, what do you do to get in the zone before the match?
I usually try and sleep in as late as I can to get a bit a rest. I try and just keep food pretty light and just relax. I’ll probably watch a couple videos on YouTube of some goalkeepers just to get my mind thinking about goalkeeping and then I like to get to the game nice and early.
I just want to be prepared and do everything I can to make sure I can perform.
Top 3 training songs?
I’m not too sure actually. Off the top of my head I don’t mind a bit of Swedish House Mafia, probably Calvin Harris, that’s about it. Just DJ’s, that sort of stuff before a game.
What do you find most challenging about the game?
Just trying to improve myself I think. It’s sort of an uphill battle, trying to get better with your own skillset. Everything in the game, especially goalkeeping, is sort of set in standard so it’s just about getting better and improving your skillset to handle situations that come up.
Goalkeeping is so individualised, unlike other players who have their head coach and their assistant, there’s probably two or three goalkeepers and we have our own goalkeeper coach so our training session is completely different to what our midfielders or strikers would do. there’s different skills like crossing, shot stopping, distribution kicking, that sort of stuff.
Some might say it’s harder because we’re generally up and down more and do a lot more strength stuff so yeah it’s definitely a lot different but that’s probably what I enjoy most about it, the variety.
What has been a highlight in your sporting career thus far?
Probably most recently when I was called in for Olyroos. The Under 23s nationals came through in November last year for a camp. That was probably off the back of when I had a really good season last year and won Player of the Year at Olympic. Getting the call up to then go to the Olyroos was, for me so far in my short career, was unbelievable.
That would’ve been the highlight of my short career so far. I was at home and we all got put into some kind of WhatsApp chat with the rest of the players which said ‘you’re in the extended squad’. So it’s probably not what you expect it would be but you just get a WhatsApp message and you’re added into a group and the whole group is surprised so that’s always really good.
How has football impacted your life?
For me, it’s my real passion. It always keeps me happy and keeps me with a goal, even if things outside of soccer are a little up and down, you’ve always got your goals in soccer. That way you can always step past it and aim to achieve those.
Just staying fit and healthy as well which is the benefit of playing any sport, you stay in shape, you get to talk to your teammates, communicate and be social with people. It’s a really good backbone to have in life in general, playing sport and talking to people.
What is something you learned about yourself through playing the game?
I’m a little bit stronger than what I give myself credit for. Having responsibilities and stuff like that, it’s not even just goalkeeping as well. Seeing yourself go through situations that most people might think ‘that’s really touch’ or ‘that’s so much pressure on yourself’, you realise that once you’re in there, you can actually handle it.
It even sets you up for things in life that you’ll be able to handle outside of soccer as well, it’s really grounding.
What do you hope to achieve in the next year?
Sports wise my goal is to try and get a professional contract. I was a little bit surprised not having an A-League club call. Soccer wise I just want to be professional contract, either with an A-League club or a move overseas. That’s definitely the goal for me.
What’s something someone might be surprised to learn about you?
I started playing soccer quite young but I only started goalkeeping when I was 15, I guess you could consider that pretty late goalkeeping wise. I think when I tell most people they’re pretty surprised.
At that age I had a bit of a growth spurt, I’m 6 foot 5 now, but back then I was a short, chubby kid in school and then over the school holidays I came back and I was really tall and really skinny. Everyone was a little freaked out. I just put the goalkeeper gloves on and told my dad I wanted to play as a keeper.
I was half decent at it and went and started training with the goalkeeper coach and playing with some kids after school. I had a bit of potential, kept that going and my dad said ‘lets try and make something of it’, so it just went uphill from there.
Favourite way to unwind after a game?
My brother and I always go and get an ice cream after the game, just have a bit of the chat. We go to the same spot just to unwind because with goalkeeping, you’re always so mentally focused for 90 minutes. It’s probably more to relax the mind more than the body because we don’t do that much during the games.
What are you most looking forward to in 2021?
With COVID we never really know what’s happening especially here in Sydney, but we’re [Olympic] in a really good position to make the finals, we’re in the top five. We just qualified for the FFA Cup as well at the round of 32.
We’re really excited for that, hopefully we can get an A-League team in that and bring over a Wanderers, or Melbourne Victory or Sydney FC to our sports ground to host them. We’ve got the finals to worry about and now the FFA Cup, so we’re in a good spot.
What is something you want to be remembered by?
I just want to be remembered, especially in soccer, as a guy that fans could talk to, that teammates could talk to. Of course I want to be remembered as a good player but I want to be remembered more for being a good person, someone who was always open and was a nice guy.