Fragogiannis buzzing about pitch upgrade
Sydney United 58 defender Yianni Fragogiannis was pretty excited to return to training once more, and why wouldn’t he be? Apart from being able to train with his teammates again post COVID-19 restrictions, the famous National Premier Leagues NSW Men’s club recently completed its surface upgrade headlining it as one of the best artificial pitches in the country.
“It’s been a breath of fresh air with everything that’s been going on in the world the last few months to have been given the green light to train once more.
“Like most people, the main priority is the health (both mentally and physically) wellbeing of the community so to see the positive results with restrictions easing has been great to see. I hope this trend continues so we can all go back to doing the things we love as we did before this virus hit.
“We’re extremely lucky at Sydney United to have the best facilities with the new pitch, and the best coaching staff going around so to be able to work with everyone again has been refreshing.
“The pitch itself is in immaculate condition and as a player you enjoy playing on quality grounds, we can’t wait to zing a few balls on the pitch that’s for sure.”
The 29-year-old highlighted that his weekends of playing in the nation’s best NPL competition has been sorely missed under the watchful eye of head coach and former Socceroo Zeljko Kalac.
“Definitely the thing I miss most is match day’s every weekend.
“You honestly cannot replicate the competitive edge that comes around each weekend during the season and as a club we hope that we can play some form football this year.”
Since the COVID-19 lockdown in March, Fragogiannis was fortunate that as a commercial broker, its been business as usual occupation wise.
“Correct, I work in the financial services industry as a commercial broker, so I’ve been quite lucky in the sense that I’ve still been able to work (albeit through other methods such as Zoom, Skype etc).
“I think we definitely need to recognise the unbelievable work that our health workers do each and every day to protect the community. They’re the real heroes through all of this and should be commended for their efforts.
“I’ve been very fortunate in the sense that my immediate family/friends and I haven’t been impacted too badly over the last few months. My heart goes out to those families that have been affected and I sincerely hope that there hasn’t been a significant negative impact amongst the football community in NSW and Australia as a whole.”
In his eighteenth season playing the game he loves, the former Sutherland Sharks and Blacktown City star enjoyed spending time at home during the self-isolation period and picked up the sport of Golf during the unprecedented layoff.
“I love being at home in general so for me nothing really changed when the restrictions were at its highest earlier in the year.
“Spending time with my wife, close family and friends more recently has been a blessing in disguise as we all live very busy lives so take a step back from all of that has been good in a way.
“I also picked up a hobby in the form of Golf. I’m no Tiger Woods but it’s something I’ve really enjoyed doing every weekend since football stopped.”
