Long Beach Poly senior football player Alex Austin will get a rare honor in the next few weeks, as he’s been selected as one of the 45 high school football players who will represent their country as part of the USA U19 Football team.
The team is in Flagstaff for a two-week training camp before heading to Mexico City for three games including a showdown with Australia on July 14th. The best two teams from a pool of the USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and Sweden will face off in a Gold Medal Game on July 22 for the right to be crowned by youth football team in the world.
The USA has won two of the four world titles thus far, while Canada has won the other two including the most recent one in 2016.
Austin said he was thrilled with the opportunity.
“To get to represent the country is a special thing and I’m really grateful for it.”
Poly coach Stephen Barbee was bursting with pride when asked about it.
“It’s so great for Alex and I know he’s going to make the most of the opportunity,” he said.
Austin is a rangy 6-foot-1 cornerback whose profile has been elevated this spring as scholarship offers have begun to roll in, including his first Pac-12 offer recently from Oregon State.
“It’s nice to get the recognition and the validation but at the same time I’m trying to stay focused on putting the work in,” said Austin.
