Te Maori: All White future the goal for Gabriell Anderson

Gabriell "Te Pounamu" Anderson is looking forward to attending Mount Albert Grammar School's football academy. Photo/Ben Fraser.

Rotorua's Gabriell "Te Pounamu" Anderson has some pretty nifty footwork on the football field, so much so it has earned him a spot at Mount Albert Grammar School's football academy.

The 12-year-old will swap his Te Kura o Te Koutu uniform for a Mount Albert Grammar uniform next year as he makes the shift to Auckland.

It's a move which the Ngati Manawa descendant said was a mixture of emotions from being nervous because it was a new school to missing his mates at his current school.

However, it's a sacrifice he is willing to make to hopefully one day play for his country as well as be like his favourite footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.

Known as Te Pounamu by his peers at Koutu, he is one of two footballers from the area to be selected for the academy. Reporoa's Jacob Nottage, a teammate of Te Pounamu, is the other.

The pair will spend a year at Mount Albert Grammar under the watchful eye of the director of the football academy, former New Zealand All Whites' coach Kevin Fallon. Fallon helped guide New Zealand to the 1982 World Cup finals.

Te Pounamu has been playing football since he was 5 and is looking forward to being trained by a great coach like Fallon.

"Hopefully I can go far."

The academy was established in 1998 and, according to the school's website, is geared to producing a competitive and successful 1st XI. The academy has produced a number of top quality players, including All Whites players Jeremy Christie and Rory Fallon. It has also seen other players pick up overseas football scholarships or gain professional status in the English Football League or here in New Zealand.

Te Pounamu said his goal was to one day become an All White or play professional football overseas.

While the youngster was looking forward to the new school, his mother, Angela Anderson, said it would be a struggle having her son away at boarding school.

"I'm okay at the moment. It will be the week before [he leaves]. He went for a camp down in the South Island for 10 days and I was a mess for 10 days."

Te Kura o Te Koutu principal Uenuku Fairhall said he was tinged with sadness losing a great student like Te Pounamu. "It's a bitter sweet moment really but an opportunity like that - no parent or, for that matter, principal should be against that.

"I'm really intrigued, I'm happy too that he's involved in a sport that not many Maori are involved in yet. I learned after a year in Chile, just how big football is."

Mr Uenuku said he was hopeful Te Pounamu would make the best of the opportunity. "He's really dedicated, his family are dedicated, he's got all these things in place for him."