Hendry Williams was stood planted to the spot, with his back stuck firmly to the wall of the gymnasium.
The six-year-old had been brimming with excitement before the very first football training session of his life. But when he arrived, that excitement quickly washed away.
“We walked into his first training, and he got really embarrassed and anxious. He didn’t really want to join in,” says Hendry’s mother, Jonica Williams.
“The coaches tried to encourage him to join in, and I tried to encourage him, and he just wasn’t having any of it.
“Later that evening at home, he told me it was because he didn’t really look like any of the other kids.”
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Hendry was born in Vanuatu. At seven months old, he was adopted by Jonica and Clint Williams, who live on the Central Coast in New South Wales.
Australia is home to young Hendry – but on the day that was meant to kickstart his football journey, he was held back by the feeling that he didn’t belong. Hendry recognised that of all the children taking part in the training session on that day, none of them shared his complexion.
He might still feel the same to this day if not for meeting his two “best friends” at the Central Coast Mariners.
“I had already heard there was a Vanuatuan playing for the Mariners,” Jonica Williams says.
“I found out that Brian Kaltak was playing here already, so we decided to go to the Mariners game. We got a Vanuatu flag, and Hendry painted his face, and we came along to his first game – so he could see somebody that looked like him represented in the sport at the elite level, and not necessarily looking like the people around him.
“We had come to see Brian, being from Vanuatu and looking like Hendry. Then when we got here, the players had talked amongst themselves and Dan Hall had found out about Hendry. He said he also wanted to meet him.”
Together, Dan Hall and Brian Kaltak are stars of the Mariners outfit preparing to play in the 2022-23 Isuzu UTE A-League Finals Series.
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Kaltak is the Vanuatuan national team captain; after years spent playing in leagues around the Pacific Islands, Kaltak continued to pursue his footballing dream in New Zealand, before the Mariners granted the defender his very first professional contract, and he’s rewarded them with a standout individual campaign that puts him among the signings of the season.
Hall, meanwhile, has been in Gosford since 2018, rising through the Mariners’ youth ranks to become a regular first-team member.
Hall, like Hendry, is a Pacific Islander adopted by white Australian parents.
“I think you become a certain age where you do notice differences, different skin tones and that,” Hall tells KEEPUP. “I guess it’s all about being proud that you’re unique and different, and not being embarrassed or insecure about the colour of someone’s skin.
“Growing up, I never had anyone that was in that same situation as I was. I was just fortunate that everything fell in line, that I got to meet Hendry and we have a similar story.
“Looking back on it, I’m just glad I could make a little kid happy. That’s what’s important.”
Since introducing themselves to Hendry, both Hall and Kaltak have helped instigate a drastic improvement in the six-year-old’s perspective on life.
“Dan shared his story with us about being adopted, going through a lot of similar things that Hendry was going through, where he didn’t feel like he looked like everybody else,” Jonica Williams says.
“It really changed Hendry. It changed his perspective on a lot of things. He talked a lot about it afterwards, asked a lot of questions (like): ’Hey, so, he’s from the Pacific Islands, from Fiji, and his mum and dad are white too?’ He talked about it a lot.
“It’s really sat there with him, and I’ve just seen a massive difference with his confidence, and just kind of feeling more comfortable within his skin.”
Hendry says Kaltak remains his favourite player, however. That decision comes down to the fact that both he and Kaltak share a similar hairstyle.
But Hendry saves praise for Hall, too: “I like something about Danny,” Hendry says. “He saves heaps of goals!”
Hendry wears a Mariners kit with pride as KEEPUP accompanies the six-year-old and his mum Jonica to a special afternoon at Industree Group Stadium. Both Kaltak and Hall are in attendance to have a kick-about at the Mariners home ground, with Hendry and a group of fellow young football lovers. It’s a group that Hendry is more than happy to be a part of.
The back of Hendry’s Mariners kit is adorned with Kaltak’s name and number.
When Kaltak was Hendry’s age, the likes of Ronaldinho and David Beckham featured on the back of his kits. Now he feels privileged to have his name on Hendry’s.
“For Hendry it would be hard,” Kaltak says. “Coming from Vanuatu with a new family, a new environment where he has to grow more, grow older a bit more years and get used to it.
“When I see Hendry I thought of my journey, from Vanuatu to New Zealand. It is a nice feeling. Growing up in Vanuatu and thinking of becoming a professional one day… then you see people wearing your shirts, little Hendry wearing my shirt. And he was happy to see me.
“I’m really happy to see that what I’m doing could impact to someone’s life. I’m proud of it.”
READ: Epic story of World No. 164’s only pro footballer
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