West Lothian teenager set to meet Wayne Rooney

Nov 5 2009 by Debbie Hall, West Lothian Courier

A TALENTED teenager footballer has been given the chance to show off his skills to Wayne Rooney.

Lewis Fyfe (17), will appear alongside the Manchester United and England star in the second series of Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker, a nationwide hunt for the best street football talent.

The Livingston teenager showed off his skills at a trial last month where he beat competition from thousands of other youngsters to impress the judges and net his place on the Sky One show.

The talented youngster, who supports Manchester United, was selected from the trial after showing the judges skills that embodied Rooney’s passion, determination, skill and raw talent.

He will now join 23 other teenagers from around the UK to go head-to-head in front of the star on the three-part show, which starts this Sunday.

Lewis, from Ladywell, will take on a series of street football challenges, battling it out to become 2009’s ‘Coke Zero’ Street Striker and win a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend the 2010 FIFA World Cup final in South Africa.

Lewis, who plays for Hutchison Vale Community Sports Club in Edinburgh, said it was a “dream come true” meeting Wayne.

“I’m a Manchester United fan so Wayne is one of my heroes and it was great meeting him.

“My sister plays for Hutchison Vale and the programme makers went there asking for kids to try out for the show.

“My dad said I should go for it as well but I thought I was too old, but the cut out age was 18 and I made it through.

“We got to perform a challenge in front of Wayne, ask him questions and get our picture taken with him.

“Playing football professionally is something I’d aim to do in the future so this was a great experience.”

The teenager’s mum Linda said the whole family was proud of him and would be gathering round the television on Sunday to watch him.

“We’re really looking forward to watching him,” she said.

“Lewis had competed against thousands of others so to get down to the last 23 is a great achievement in itself.”

And Wayne Rooney himself said he was impressed by Lewis’ skills.

He said: “Lewis did very well to be selected for the show as the level of competition this year was tough.

“I was really impressed by his ball skills and touch as he worked really hard on it.

“There are some great street football challenges on the show and they’re really not easy. I am afraid local people will just have to watch the show to see how he gets on.”

For more information on the show visit www.cokezone.co.uk/streetstriker.