



Thrill of the game helps control Nick's hard edge

Bring it on: Nick Vlastuin likes a challenge.

Bring it on: Nick Vlastuin likes a challenge. Photo: Justin McManus

NICK Vlastuin had so much excess energy that he once broke $800 worth of glass in a single year. When he did something naughty his brother and sister used to go into ''time out'' rather than him, so they could get a break from their baby brother. When Vlastuin was 15 months old his mother nicknamed him Tigger, after Winnie the Pooh's bouncy buddy. It helped that he had red hair. ''Doesn't complain when he falls over or is pushed, just bounces up again,'' she wrote at the time. ''Unfortunately, he expects others to do likewise.''

Vlastuin is more subdued these days, around home at least. When he was made captain of the Vic Metro team this year he tried to be the sort of leader who spoke through his actions, and hoped he wasn't asked to make too many speeches. But as a kid he was so hard to control his mother, Cecily, became worried.

After Vlastuin bashed a stick against a door made of safety glass so many times that he smashed it, she went to see a paediatrician, wondering what to do. His suggestion: take the kid to Auskick.

That all happened when Vlastuin was four. Fourteen years later the football field is still where he channels his energy, where he still likes to run around, get dirty and push people over. ''I always liked the competitive side of the game, wrestling kids and roughing them up and getting roughed up,'' he said.

Cecily adds: ''He's been in training since he could walk, really. It's all he ever did, push people over.''

Still, football was not an obvious prescription. Vlastuin's parents grew up in New South Wales, his mother on a farm and his father Chris just north of the Hunter Valley after being born in Dutch New Guinea. Chris' parents moved to Australia after World War II, choosing it ahead of South America, Africa and Canada.

Nick's grandfather, Leedert, had fibbed about his age to get into the Dutch army and, after travelling to Indonesia for some adventure, was there when war broke out. He became caught up in it, surviving a prisoner-of-war camp at Changi and a labour camp at the Burma Railway when many of his good friends did not.

Back home in Holland, he and wife Bep struggled to settle, Bep having seen the war from the European side and Leedert from an Indonesian angle. It was something they never spoke about. The pair married by proxy so she could get into Indonesia, then spent a couple of years there, setting up a shop on water to do island hops but eventually losing a fortune after most of what they had was confiscated by the government and they were kicked out.

Almost the same thing happened in Australia, where they migrated despite speaking no English. Leedert helped an army mate establish a tobacco farm, building the house and the sheds. But he was double-crossed, inadvertently signing everything over to his friend, who took it all then turned the electricity off one Christmas Eve and kicked the family out of their home.

After losing everything for a second time, the Vlastuins moved to Taree on the Mid-North Coast where Leedert got a job at a parquetry flooring company, his adventuring done. He was a hard, tough man, qualities Cecily suspects may have continued on to Nick who, as a footballer, works relentlessly, is resilient and never wants to lose. Curiously, his brother, Tim, joined the army earlier this year. ''I took him to the gym before army training and killed him,'' said Nick, smiling. ''I'm hoping that won't change too quickly. We'll see.''

The Vlastuins found themselves in Melbourne's northern suburbs when Chris got a job transfer, and the game they knew nothing about gave their youngest child an outlet. Before long, the bigger kids wanted Nick in their team and since starting out he has been through the Eltham juniors to the Northern Knights and Metro. He was surprised when asked to be captain, and was almost immediately challenged, with the team unexpectedly dropping its first match to the Northern Territory.

''I had the week off after that game and was sitting home just thinking about it. Being the first captain to lose to a division two team wasn't a good feeling,'' he said.

''I didn't know what had happened and I was annoyed, having waited so long for the nationals, but we came back after that and won the championships, so it worked out all right. It was good. I think that in the long run it helped get me out of my comfort zone. The coaches would call on me a bit and ask me about the games, what we did well and that sort of stuff. It made me think a bit differently.''

Vlastuin is ready to join his new club on Thursday night. That's what happens when you start out so young. He finished school last year, having started when he was four and kept up with the older kids right until the end. For the past few months he has been working as a lifeguard at a local swimming centre, waiting to push people around some more. ''I love the contested side of the game, the contest, the stoppages and all the body-on-body stuff,'' he said. ''It's what I've always loved the most. I can't wait to see what it's like.''

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