User:Leonardo Vin Shickle/sandbox

Corey Warren Cuelho (born 27 April 2000) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a Midfielder,forward for S.League club Geylang International.

Although Corey Cuelho seems like your typical football player, he deceives many with an incredible difference which he believes “helped me get to where I am today” said Cuelho. At 9 months old, Cuelho was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Retinoblastoma. Due to this, just 1 week after his diagnosis, Cuelho had his right eye removed which left him vision from only his left eye.

After an interview with Cuelho’s dad, we gathered some interesting insight into the life behind this amazing footballer.

"From the age of 2 years old, it became apparent that Corey was only happy when kicking around a soccer ball. Playing “left foot, right foot” In our lounge room every evening while as I tried to watch TV was his favourite part of the day".

Just before his fourth birthday, Cuelho Joined the Winston Hills Bears football club in New South Wales, Australia and the rest was history.

Cuelho played football every summer and winter, nurturing his skills. From the age of 6, he was training almost every day both at academies and on his own. Countless amounts of people told him that he would never make a professional football player, that with only one eye, he was wasting his time. "I vividly remember one day he came home from school agitated and annoyed. I asked him what was wrong and he told me “we did something in class today about what we wanted to be when we grew up. I told my teacher that I wanted to be a footballer and everyone started laughing. The teacher told me to stop trying to be the class clown and pick a realistic profession. I told her that’s what I really wanted to do. She told me to think logically and stop wasting my time.” My heart broke. Seeing my son upset about that, went deep. However, he did not listen because very few people knew the power of a genuine burning desire. He got his ball, walked outside and started training by himself again".

In 2010 he was selected for the FFA and football NSW P22 program, a program run by Football NSW. A handful of the very best talented footballers from around the country were selected in an attempt to win the 2022 World Cup. Other players that were selected for this program were names like Daniel Azarni and Ramy Najjarine.

In 2014 Cuelho attended the Leeds United Football Academy, arguably the most successful youth academy in the world. Corey was offered a position and was told that he was “towards the pointy end of the academy boys”.

In 2017 he was scouted by Bolton Wanderers after playing first grade for Turriff United in Scotland at age 17. The then Turriff manager, the former head of the Scottish High-Performance Unit responsible for the Scottish youth international teams said “It’s a joy to watch him. When he’s on the pitch you wouldn’t even begin to think he only has half the vision the rest of the players on the field have. The thing that amazes me most, is ironic really; he has half the vision of everyone else on the field but he can see twice as much as other players. The best part of his game is his vision. Cuelho would be in the top 5 most talented players I have had the privilege to work with”

Bolton where attempting to sign Corey for their U23’s squad just before they, unfortunately, went into receivership. Corey returned to Australia in an attempt to get his mental status back up.

In 2019 Corey has received a professional contract from Geylang International FC in the Singapore Premier League. This is his first step to achieve his ultimate dream of playing professionally in one of the top leagues around the world and competing in the Champions League and of course the Socceroos.

Cuelho told us “Anything is possible and I’ve proven it. People will say you can’t. People will say you won’t. At the end of the day it’s all about what you say to yourself. I always told myself I would make it. I always saw it clearly in my mind. I always knew I would make it. I worked too hard not to make it. Right now is only my beginning. As well as being a footballer I’ve always dreamed of showing people who are like me that they can do it. I want to inspire people who have disabilities to not let their disability define them. They can do whatever they want as long as they put their mind to it and work for it. There’s a lot more to come from my journey and I hope you will all follow and support me.

For everyone who would like to follow his journey, it will all be posted on his Instagram @cuelho17. I myself look forward to this exciting young man's journey of what’s to come.