Talk about working a room.

It took less than five minutes for soccer freestyle champions John Farnworth and Abbas Farid to captivate exhibitors at the NCSAA Convention last week in St. Louis, Missouri, and less than 30 seconds for the event security to escort them out into the hallway.

The sight of the two youngsters dribbling and balancing the soccer ball off of every imaginable body part; displaying a gamut of ridiculously difficult, and creative juggling tricks sent the vendors into a frenzy. And before long, the duo was the only attraction on the showroom floor.

“They said we were creating too much of a crowd in the aisles, so they kicked us out,” Farnworth said. “Everyone was getting mad, saying ‘we like it.’ But we had to go.”   

And this was only a small impromptu show, so you can only imagine the reception these showman get when they hit the road for scheduled performances.

The new trend of soccer freestyling, which is a showcase of combo skills with the ball, and is famously practiced by Brazil star Ronaldinho, is popular among young fans, injecting a healthy dose of style to go along with soccer’s necessary substance.

And for champions Farnworth and Farid, it’s allowed them to reach newfound levels of celebrity.

“It’s taken me all over the world - The Far East, Europe, the States,” said Farnworth, a native of Preston, England.

Farnworth, 22, was crowned World Champion by a Dutch Company, Masters of the Game, in 2006 in Amsterdam (There’s no official governing body of freestyle competition), and also holds a Guinness World Record for completing a trick called “Around the World” 85 times in one minute.

Farid, a 25-year-old UK Nike Freestyle Champion, holds a Guinness World Record for completing 88 heel kicks in a minute.

But these guys are far from one-trick ponies. Farnworth put on a display that included going to the ground flat on his back where he pulled off more dribble moves than the average player could while standing upright.

It isn’t all about flair, however. Putting together a performance that appeases the judges is equal parts procedural and dramatic.

“It’s definitely technical, but there’s also the performance and entertainment side, which is important. You have to make it creative, almost like a dance routine, and you get judged on all the aspects,” Farnworth said.

Farnworth began playing soccer in a conventional way before finding his niche in freestyle.

“I started out doing kick ups just to get control of the ball and I was so obsessed with the control of the ball that I stumbled into freestyling and started watching others do it.  You start to combine tricks and kind of put a show together. “You have to have a flowing and smooth show where one move kind of links to the next and I think that’s what helped me to stand out from other freestylers. It’s how I express myself.”

Farnworth is now dedicated to expressing himself no matter how long it takes.

“It starts from the basics and every trick takes a couple weeks,” he said. “Some might take a couple of years while you build up your physique. Every trick is different.”

Yep. One trick might elicit applause. Another?

A security guard.