CASA GRANDE, Ariz. – Soccer talent from across the globe gathered at Grande Sports World on Friday in hopes of becoming one of the elite few to join Grande Sports Academy for the 2014/15 season.
Following an intense two days of drills and evaluations conducted by the Grande Sports Academy staff, a few of the players trying out gave their thoughts on the academy.
Ude Ezekwem came all the way from Nigeria in order to tryout. “[My brothers] were researching different academies here and different soccer programs, and they felt like in Nigeria things weren’t moving forward football-wise… They found out about this academy and told me about it and I was pumped to come here,” said Ezekwem.
“I have a friend that’s in the academy, Kristopher Fourcand,” said Mathias Baboun, who came from Haiti to tryout. “I saw that I was going nowhere with the soccer in Haiti because there’s not as many opportunities down there and I decided to take my soccer career to the next level.”
Dimitris Kalogerakos from Greece decided to tryout because of a former Grande Sports Academy player. “Kostas Kotselas recommended it to me. He said it’s a good opportunity to get better because the coaches are very good and the facilities are excellent. It’s even better than he told me,” said Kalogerakos.
“The coaches are really good,” said Ezekwem. “They taught me things that I haven’t learned back home. Most of the things that I’m doing here we don’t learn back in Nigeria. Even now I have better first touch and I’m quicker on the ball. It’s a great opportunity, it’s really awesome here.”
In addition to trying out for an opportunity to join Grande Sports Academy, residential camps at Grande Sports World also serve as a great opportunity for players to be evaluated by our world-class coaching staff.
More information on tryouts at Grande Sports Academy can be found here.