{"id":10100,"date":"2014-03-20T11:53:57","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T11:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2014\/03\/20\/former-winner-hails-asian-star-experience\/"},"modified":"2014-03-20T11:53:57","modified_gmt":"2014-03-20T11:53:57","slug":"former-winner-hails-asian-star-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2014\/03\/20\/former-winner-hails-asian-star-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"FORMER WINNER HAILS ASIAN STAR EXPERIENCE"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"content\">\n<h3>Sam Khan Says It Was  a Life Changing Opportunity <\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"1\" hspace=\"3\" vspace=\"10\" align=\"middle\" width=\"570\" height=\"225\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/Image\/ArticleImages\/sam-khan-570x225.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>Chelsea\u2019s Asian Star initiative is now under two months away and former winner Sam Khan believes the youngsters attending will enjoy a day never to forget. <\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>Sam won the Under-9s age group in 2011 with his success and talent swiftly recognised by Birmingham City Football Club, who asked the Coventry-born youngster to join their Academy.<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>This year&#8217;s Asian Star, now in its sixth year, will take play on 5 May at our Cobham training ground with nearly 400 youngsters aged nine to 12 bidding to follow in the footsteps of Sam.<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>Sam believes the day is about having fun first and foremost, but encouraged those attending to make the most of the opportunity the ground-breaking initiative gives them.<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u2018I remember the day I won very well. It doesn\u2019t seem that long ago,\u2019 said the aspiring footballer, now 12.<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u2018I remember the feeling of when they called my name out and everyone taking pictures like I was a celebrity. It was amazing to know that I had won my age group when there were so many other good players there.<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u2018I would tell those going this year to be confident and do your best. Remember to use everything you have learnt in the past and let the judges see what talent you have.<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u2018It has been very beneficial as it allowed me to gain more confidence because I knew that the judges had said how good I was for my age and that made me push myself to show clubs that were interested in me what I could do.\u2019 <\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>Including Sam the Asian Star programme has already uncovered seven potential stars of the future who have gone on to play for professional clubs&#8217; academies, while winners in each age group are invited to join the <a title=\"blocked::http:\/\/www.chelseafc.com\/foundation\" href=\"http:\/\/www.chelseafc.com\/foundation\"><span title=\"blocked::http:\/\/www.chelseafc.com\/foundation\">Chelsea Foundation<\/span><\/a>&#8216;s Football Development Centres.<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u2018Things are very good at Birmingham. The coaches are very good and I have made lots of new friends,\u2019 added Sam.<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u2018Having to train as often as we do has made me a lot stronger in and my mum and dad say they can see the difference in me every match I play.<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u2018I am very grateful for the chance that I had with Chelsea in the Asian Star competition. <\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>Seeing all the Asian children that compete each year shows how much the Asian community want more Asians playing football.\u2019 <\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<div>Applications for this year&#8217;s tournament are now open via <a title=\"blocked::http:\/\/www.chelseafc.com\/asianstar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.chelseafc.com\/asianstar\">www.chelseafc.com\/asianstar<\/a> or for further information contact <a title=\"blocked::mailto:asianstar@chelseafc.com\" href=\"mailto:asianstar@chelseafc.com\">asianstar@chelseafc.com<\/a><\/div>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sam Khan Says It Was a Life Changing Opportunity &#13; Chelsea\u2019s Asian Star initiative is now under two months away and former winner Sam Khan believes the youngsters attending will enjoy a day never to forget. &#13; \u00a0 &#13; Sam won the Under-9s age group in 2011 with his success and talent swiftly recognised by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}