Gorman managing to balance the books

27 May 2010 15:46
Teenage star Johnny Gorman is taking important strides in his education on and off the pitch as he enjoys life on tour with Northern Ireland.[LNB] The Wolves academy winger picked up his first cap at the age of 17 years and 212 days in Wednesday's 2-0 defeat to Turkey in Connecticut before flying with Nigel Worthington's squad overnight to Santiago ahead of Sunday night's friendly with Chile.[LNB]Having savoured his first 68 minutes of international football at New Britain's Veterans Memorial Stadium, he was bracing himself for a return to his school books as he continues to revise for the A Level English Literature exams that await him on his return to Repton School in England.[LNB]Gorman, on a scholarship at Repton, will miss his Physical Education A Level exam on Friday after being given permission by the school to take it in January but still has plenty of revision to cram in before returning to class after a five-day absence.[LNB]"I've finished my art exam, and I'm missing my PE exam, which was going to be on Friday, and my next exam is English Literature, which is the second day I get back to school," he said.[LNB]"So I've got books with me now to be revising, Pride and Prejudice, it's the bane of my life, I can't stand it, and then William Wordsworth's poetry."[LNB]Gorman is determined to continue his twin-track approach for another year at least.[LNB]He added: "I've got another year (at school) to do my A2s and I want to carry on what I've been doing this year, half football, half school, just until I get my education sorted out to where I want it to be.[LNB]"Then after that, I want to try to progress with Wolves and see where I can go from there."[LNB]In the meantime, the Sheffield-born winger is enjoying his time on tour in the Americas.[LNB]"It was an achievement even to be here so to get my first cap that's even better and it was unexpected.[LNB]"I'm just happy to have played.[LNB]"Hopefully it's the first of many caps for Northern Ireland so I'll see where it takes me from here."[LNB]Gorman said his instructions ahead of the tour from Northern Ireland manager Worthington had been straight-forward.[LNB]"When I spoke to him on the phone he just said 'enjoy yourself, take as much of the experience of it as you can'.[LNB]"Before the game he said to me 'just play your normal game, put the crosses in and shots and most of all enjoy it', which I have done."[LNB]The teenager said he had received lots of support from the rest of the squad, particularly captain Stephen Craigan.[LNB]"Everybody has been pretty welcoming. I feel part of the team and experienced players like Craigan have been speaking to me quite a lot on the pitch about things which has been very helpful, not just for that match but my football in general in the future."[LNB]Worthington was more than pleased with the debut performances of both Gorman and Michael Bryan, the 20-year-old Watford midfielder who replaced him on the right wing for the final 22 minutes against Turkey.[LNB]"It's a development group, we're looking at people. The two youngsters in Gorman and Bryan, I've been very pleased with their input in their first time out and it's a good exercise, I'm very pleased with it," Worthington said.[LNB]The manager said that all 17 players in the squad would again see action on Sunday against the World Cup-bound Chileans, although he would see how each one reacted to playing against the Turks in temperatures that peaked at 103 degrees Fahrenheit at pitch level.[LNB]"It's down to the recovery from the game because without a doubt it's taken a lot out of the players," he said.[LNB]"So it's their recovery. We'll give them a bit of down time on Thursday afternoon and evening and then get ready again for Sunday.[LNB]"All the players will get some football. We'd love to win games and score goals so we'll go with what we think will give us a good, steady start and look at it from there.[LNB]"There were no knocks, just tired minds and bodies."

Source: Team_Talk