Newcastle football legend Craig Johnston is determined to leave a big legacy.
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Johnston is best known for leaving his Speers Point home at age 15 to chase a dream of becoming a professional soccer player in England.
He went on to star in the Liverpool team of the 1980s - one of the greatest sides in soccer history.
He's also known for having invented and patented the Adidas Predator football boot 25 years ago.
So there's a symmetry and synchronicity to Johnston's latest venture. He's invented a concept called the "Big Bash of Soccer".
He'll be shooting the project pilot with the Newcastle Jets men and women's teams at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday.
The Big Bash project incorporates his SUPAskills system, which was based on the famous methods he taught himself to become a better player as a teenager in Middlesbrough Football Club's car park.
When Johnston went for a trial with Middlesbrough at age 15, he was rejected and told he wasn't good enough. Middlesbrough manager Jack Charlton famously told him he was the "worst player" he'd ever seen.
Johnston stuck around, kept his head down and constantly worked to improve his game by using self-created skill tests and a car-park wall to relentlessly kick the ball against. This ultimately led to his success.
The Big Bash is a modern version of this. It uses technology to turn skills into scores, data and statistics.
"These are tried and tested training formats used by the likes of Barcelona, Liverpool, Paris St Germain, AC Milan and the Brazilian national team to sharpen the minds and the feet of their players," he said.
"The actual Big Bash skills challenge format is a combination of the best mini-training games used over generations by the best coaches and players in the world."
The format focuses heavily on six-a-side games, but with dynamic skill drills that promote faster thinking and execution.
Players from Australia's top football teams - international, club and representative - will set the benchmark for the system.
Youngsters will then try to emulate these results in related events around Australia called the "Little Bash's". The system encourages daily improvement.
"It's like a Playstation for the feet and mind but in the backyard, not the bedroom," Johnston said.
He said the biggest problem with soccer in Australia was "we don't have the skills that other nations around the world have".
The Big Bash skills tournament aims to change this.
Johnston aims to base the system in Newcastle, transforming it into the "the soccer capital of Australia, if not Asia".
"It's like the Big Bash of cricket, but better," he said.
"This could do for Newcastle what the Rugby Sevens did for Hong Kong."
His grand plan is for Newcastle to host local, national and international events that "further enrich our sporting and recreational infrastructure".
The story of the Big Bash will be filmed for a documentary series.
"We are working on a five- or six-year timeline," he said, adding that the Broadmeadow sporting precinct was planned to be the Big Bash headquarters.
"The end story is about how Australia can get more kids playing more sport more often and finding more joy, direction and resilience in their lives."
The other narrative is Newcastle and its people coming of age and competing on the global stage with the big cities.
