Usain Bolt has the power to bring about change even if he's not physically there. Ask Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Academics there have written about the growth in engagement in a semester-long high school physics class called "Professor Usain Bolt Welcomes You to the Schoolyard: Physics for Champions", even though the eight-time Olympic champion wasn't ever present.

How vast then could the benefits be if the world's fastest man was present? In say a professional sports team? For an entire season, or more?

That's what A-League side, the Central Coast Mariners, are contemplating.

The team coach wants to harness Bolt's "winning attitude", one the club so desperately needs.

"It's vital … we've been cellar dwellers for the last four years, there's obviously something missing," Mike Mulvey says.

"In the 2012 Olympics Bolt had a bit of an injury and Yohan Blake was coming to take his crown and he found a way to do it (win), so when you've got that ability to win and win and win against all odds, I want to bring that skillset to this club."

But this is much more than a sports story.

In Jamaica he carries the title, "Dr the Honourable Ambassador Usain Bolt, OJ – Ambassador at Large". It's a role he fulfils without even trying.

The Mariners CEO says he's hearing from sponsors he's never heard from before.

"For us it's about changing the perception of the Central Coast and Gosford," Shaun Mielekamp says.

"It's about creating opportunities for businesses here, we've asked our business community here to be Bolt-ready … there's a real energy in the Central Coast at the moment about where we can be, about where we can go."

Usain Bolt takes part in his first training session with the Mariners in Gosford. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

The Central Coast NSW Business Chamber says Bolt's trial with the club is amazingly timed — it coincides with a NSW State Government announcement to bolster tourism in regional and rural areas.

Tourism Central Coast believes having the international exposure Bolt could bring is overwhelming.

"Having an international star who is based here, not just visiting, will raise awareness of the whole environment and people won't just come, they'll come and stay longer," said Michelle Silberman, manager of Tourism Central Coast.

Even the Gosford Anglican Church has bought into it with its message board declaring: "We're nuts about Bolt."

He doesn't need the cash, nor the publicity

There remains a niggling question though, is this more than just a marketing stunt?

Bolt has reportedly earned more than $100 million in his decade of sprinting. So he doesn't need the cash.

He has 18 million followers on Facebook, almost 9 million on Instagram and another 5 million on Twitter. So he doesn't need the publicity.

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At 32 years of age, though, the retired Olympic sprinter needs a new focus. He loves football, played it as a kid, and his dream is to play for Manchester United.

The Central Coast Mariners is definitely not United, although it might be a stepping-stone for a man unafraid of the hard work required to potentially turn another of his dreams into reality.

He told a room full of journalists earlier this week that he's never cared about what others think and showed no hint of this being a joke.

The club is not in one of the world's top leagues, it's not in a global city.

The Central Coast would allow Usain Bolt — the sprinter — a degree of obscurity while learning and perfecting new skills to become Usain Bolt — the footballer.

While he's comfortable strutting his stuff on the world's greatest stages, he's equally at home in small, laidback places. He was born and raised in Sherwood Content in Jamaica, population 1,500.

The team's challenges are equally as daunting. It needs to start winning again. It needs to lift its profile. It needs to grow its supporter base. It needs to re-enthuse the local community. All that requires money.

Through their Youth Academy the Mariners are known to turn out talented young players. If the Usain Bolt experiment works, he will become the Mariners' oldest rookie.

The coach says he's looking at potentially a 12-month project. Maybe longer.

Usain Bolt was excited by the challenge of trying to earn his first professional contract. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

Bolt's timing could not be better

Tuesday's team training run was an opportunity to let the media see Bolt before the doors closed and all concerned parties got down to the serious business of creating a professional footballer.

Bolt will have intensive one-on-one skills training. Rather than running 100-metre sprints in straight lines he'll need to learn the art of switching direction quickly, stop-start, left-right, forward-back, all the while controlling the ball.

Bolt himself says the slate is blank, he wants to learn, and he learns quickly.

Playing to his strengths, the coach notes Bolt is 195 centimetres tall and can jump about 20cm higher than the next best in his current squad.

No doubt the coach has visions of Bolt learning to head a ball into a net while he's jumping.

Bolt's timing could not be better. On the same day he celebrated his 32nd birthday with a Mariners team training session, the NSW Government was spruiking its new regional and rural tourism plan.

Almost 94 per cent of Chinese people who visit Australia only go to Sydney. ( ABC News: Graeme Powell )

Tourism is NSW's fastest growing industry, although Sydney eats the lion's share. The State Government wants to double regional tourism from $12.7 billion a year to $25 billion by 2030.

China is set to become Australia's largest tourism market. Of those that travel to NSW, 93.5 per cent of them travel only to Sydney.

Yet only an hour up the freeway lays a vast array of pristine beaches, virgin bushland, and a feast of seafood restaurants — all favourites with Chinese travellers (and others).

While China has a plethora of homegrown celebrities, there are a few non-Chinese superstars that cut through. Usain Bolt is one.

It was Bolt's three gold medals, all in world record time, that guaranteed the world would never forget the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

International interest is good for Australian sport

Usain Bolt is the type of celebrity that is almost a currency in China.

Let's not forget, also, that China's president, Xi Jinping, has made it a national ambition to not just host a FIFA World Cup, but to in fact win one.

At 32 years old, Usain Bolt will be the third-oldest player on the Mariners books if he is offered a contract. ( AP: Steve Christo )

China's fascination in Australian football (the soccer kind) is well documented.

A-League teams Melbourne City and Adelaide United are part-owned by Chinese interests; meanwhile the Newcastle Jets are a team wholly owned by Chinese businessman Martin Lee.

International interest — whether it be through business, tourism, or fandom — is good for Australian sport.

So while this most unlikely union between a struggling football club and one of the world's greatest Olympic athletes comes from way outside the box, it's quite possibly a match made in heaven with each party bringing to the table what the other desperately desires.