Two of SPIRE’s own Soccer players, Jack Narens and Joel Padilla, are preparing to make the trip to Spain in February, where they will spend eight days training with Villareal CF, one of the top professional football clubs in the world. Narens and Padilla will train with the La Liga giants, who play in the highest-level professional football league in Spain.  

Both Narens and Padilla were chosen based on their performances during a camp hosted by SPIRE last summer. During the course of the camp, coaches from Villarreal selected these two players based on their recognition of the players’ exceptional talent, application and attitude. While in Spain, the coaches at Villareal will work with each player closely in seeing how each will adapt to Villareal’s Academy setting.

Perhaps most exciting for these two young players is that while they are in Spain at the Villarreal Academy, they will be treated like every other young Villareal Academy player. The coaches plan to immerse both Narens and Padilla in the Villareal training program while introducing them to the culture.

SPIRE is pleased to offer its athletes pathways for ongoing education, along with giving them exposure to their sport at an international level. A defining goal of this opportunity is to allow these players the chance to experience the different football training methods utilized in Spain, and it is a major opportunity for them to see and experience the level required to make it to the top level of soccer. As SPIRE’s Head Coach and Soccer Technical Director, Sean Lane reminds us, “America is already producing soccer players who are playing at the highest level, including the English Premier league. Countries are looking at America as an untapped resource… Villarreal are serious in their search for talent and Jack and Joel will have an unbelievable opportunity to showcase themselves under the noses of some of the best coaches in Europe.”