AUSTIN BANKS

ABOUT ME

Austin Banks is a representative football/soccer player from Sydney NSW, Australia who plays for Manly United Football Club in the National Premier League 1 competition. 

Austin is a left footed Centre Back and Left Back. Austin started playing football at the age of 4 for Seaforth Football Club, he quickly improved and, when he was 6 years old, was selected into the under 9’s Division 1 team for Seaforth FC. At 9 years old he was selected into the Representative Skills Acquisition Program at Manly United FC. Around this time Austin also started participating in other sports like basketball, athletics, and swimming. However, even though he excelled in all of them, he decided that football was his passion and the sport for him. He continued playing basketball and continued swimming but no longer to be the best but to have fun and help with his fitness. 

Austin continued to play football for Manly United Football Club and in the off season took up representative Futsal for UTS Northside Futsal Club. He quickly fell in love with the fast pace, skills and intensity required for futsal and applied these to his footballing game which saw his game improve to a new level.

In 2018 Austin and his team were given the opportunity to play in the Bremen Bau Kontor Junior Cup in Germany against Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Bayern München, Werder Bremen, RB Leipzig, Wolfsburg, and many more. The tournament was extremely humbling and taught Austin that no matter how good he became, there would always be a better player ready to take over. Upon returning home from Germany, Austin began training harder than ever to be fitter, stronger, and started trying new things to further develop his game and make him unpredictable and hard to read. 

In his first year of high school at St Luke’s Grammar School, Austin was crowned the swimming age champion, cross country age champion and the athletics age champion. At the end of the same year at the annual sports awards, Austin was named Junior Sportsman of the Year. 

In 2021 Austin was selected into the TSP (Talent Support Program) North team with Football NSW where he trains & plays with many of the strongest players from around the state. 

Austin also won the Intermediate Sportsman of the Year Award in 2021. 

In April of 2022, Austin, and his Manly United FC U15 team will be participating in the East Mallorca Cup in Mallorca, Spain, where they will be playing against teams such as Manchester City, Porto, Hertha Berlin and more.

Austin has always been intrigued by the college system and over the past few years that intrigue & interest has grown. The thought of going to college in the USA has changed from a thought to an aspiration. The US college system caught Austin’s eye because of how different it is to Australian Universities and for the opportunities it offers. The thought of playing soccer against better players, at a higher intensity and quality whilst studying and getting a degree was something he could only dream of.

While the American culture is somewhat alien to Austin, he would like nothing more than to experience it and embrace it through the college system and getting to form new relationships with those around him from all around the world. As well as having exceptional sporting programs, American colleges also have an unrivaled education system which produces not only brilliant scholars and students but also great, generous, and ambitious human beings. Austin would like nothing more than to experience and be a part of the College system and ACA Scholarships team.