Junior Jake Maroney leaves for Spain on Nov. 11, where he will go on a soccer tour with the club Bola Top for 11 days. He has always wanted to play professional soccer and now he is one step closer to reaching his goal.

Maroney has always had a passion for soccer.  He started playing when he was three years old and has not stopped since. It has always been a dream of his to play professional soccer on the Barcelona team in Spain. He has spent the past three summers over in Brazil playing on the team he will tour with in Spain.

Maroney said, “Here in Spain, I get to play with the select Brazilian team, Bola Top.  Our team of 18 players is here in the city of Valladolid to play the professional team of Real Valladolid Academy. We get to train here in front of scouts so the academy can see if they want to take any of us to stay here and play for the Real Valladolid Academy.”

Maroney received the opportunity to play in Brazil for the past few summers because he stood out to the Brazil team Bola Top. This team is now giving him the opportunity to try out for a permanent spot in a professional soccer academy, Real Valladolid, in Spain.

“Ever since I was little I have dreamed of playing in Spain, it’s been my life goal and I am feeling the butterflies in my stomach, but I also feel like I am dreaming especially today when I waked onto the stadium field today,” said Maroney.

He has always wanted to play in Spain, now he gets that opportunity. Maroney is doing anything he can to prepare himself for Spain, practicing non-stop. When he’s not physically practicing, he’s doing everything he can to learn new techniques.

Maroney said, “To prepare myself I ran and played ball at the dome from after school to 10:00 at night almost everyday. At the dome I ran cones and drills until I couldn’t anymore, the best part about this is that it prepares me to play at the top level and it makes me feel closer to my goal. When I’m not at the dome I sometimes watch hours of video after video of different spanish tactics.”

Playing in Spain on this team may open up many more opportunities for him to advance in his professional soccer career such as different Spanish academies looking at him.

“We are playing against the Real Valladolid Academy, and the professional scouts of Real Valladolid Academy are watching us,” said Maroney.

Not only does Maroney get this opportunity to live his dreams of playing in Spain, he gets to bring his mother along for the ride. While he’s playing she will be cheering him on, exploring the city and even do some shopping.

Despite the long hours of  training, lack of  sleep and balancing school, training and work, Maroney has finally made it to Spain. He will be playing at a stadium that seats over 40,000 people he knew that he finally reached his goal. All that is left is to play in front of the scouts and hope for a spot at the Academy.