Inspirational Tomas shines for IFG Development
IFG Development rounded off a superb Ultimate Fiji Soccer Cup campaign with a penalty shoot-out victory over Ba in the final. The tense affair will live long in the memory of those involved including winger, Tomas Scotti, who had overcome countless barriers simply to be on the park.
Tomas, 13, lives with cerebral palsy after a focal seizure at four days old left doctors questioning whether he would ever walk or talk. Tomas’s father, Stephen, wouldn’t accept this given he and his wife, Alison, had been told there was so much unknown about what had happened.
For years, Tomas would be under constant monitoring, seeing numerous specialists and by the age of six, as most boys do, he began his football career with his local club the Roselands Raptors. He has spent the last seven years with the Sydney-based club where his passion for the game exploded when his idol and Italian superstar Alessandro Del Piero joined Sydney FC in 2012.
In 2016, Tomas’s father, completely by chance, came across an advertisement for the New South Wales Pararoos on the Football NSW website. Stephen encouraged his son to try out and recalls how anxious Tomas was when they turned up to Valentine Sports Park.
“We rocked up and I could tell Tomas was nervous,” Stephen said.
“I told him they were not going to do anything that they hadn’t done before at training.
“The first thing he did there was a step over, there was a one vs one, took it on the outside of his right foot, had a shot and it went it.
“I thought far out, you’ve just nailed that. It was gold, when it counted, you did it.”
Tomas now attends quarterly three-day camps where he trains alongside open-age men who are all striving to represent the Australian Pararoos on the international stage — something Stephen believes Tomas has locked in his sight.
“The Pararoos is his dream and if he puts his mind to it he can make it, there’s no question about it,” Stephen said.
“He still dreams of playing for Napoli, great, dream it, go for it.
“I wanted to play for them too and my arms and legs are right and I didn’t get there, so if that’s what you want to dream then go for it.”
Stephen, who also coaches IFG as well as Tomas’s side at Roselands, admits he felt constant trepidation when his son began playing, something he has learnt to deal with, along with the well-meaning but perhaps misspoken comments from other parents.
“I don’t worry about him playing anymore, I used to worry about him coping a ball to the head because [the doctors] said it could trigger a seizure, but you learn to accept it,” he said.
“I think it affects the parents more than the kids, [the parents] are just amazed, ‘I can’t believe it, he’s such a good little player, he gets stuck it and he does this and that’ and it annoys me a little bit.
“The kids are like, ‘You have a stuffed hand? Alright, we’ll get on with it.’
“I noticed there was a kid helping Tomas pull his shirt down so they know it’s there, one of his teammates had to write a report on inspiration and they wrote about Tomas — that spun me out to think he had that much of an influence on a 12-year-old kid.”
Tomas has defied the odds to live as a normal boy which makes him an inspiration not only to his teammates but also his family and those who have had the opportunity to see his infectious smile.
“I’m very proud of Tomas, there is no question about that because it’s a big thing to do.” Stephen said.
“He doesn’t say I’ve had a stroke and I can’t do it, he gets on with it and tries to do it.”
“For Tomas to get on with it, that is an inspiration to us, Alison and myself as parents and his younger brother Cristian.
“Tomas has had a stroke and recovered, every day he is getting better and better and better.
“The only thing he can’t do is his shoelaces.”
