Coffee with a Kick

Finley has been passionate about playing soccer since he was 3 years old. He plays year round for the Covington Football Club in Louisiana and further develops his skills at soccer camps every summer. In the summer of 2023, Finley participated in the Barca Academy, which is an intensive soccer camp taught in the US by professional trainers from FC Barcelona in Spain. This was the 3rd time Finley has taken part in the prestigious camp, and the second time he has been invited to go to Barcelona to further train with their Spanish coaches as part of “The Barca Experience.”

The Barca Experience invitation is only extended to a handful of camp participants who are selected by coaches based on 2 criteria: Skill and FC Barcelona values, which are Humility, Effort, Ambition, Respect, and Teamwork. To understand how special it is to get selected, only 180 athletes are selected from over 6000 camp attendees across the US to participate. Although Finley had been selected previously at age 8 to go to Barcelona, his parents declined the offer because they felt he was too young to fully appreciate the experience. Now, at age 10, they feel that he will not only appreciate the experience, but he also has the dedication and passion to make the absolute most of the opportunity.

When Finley goes to Barcelona in March, he wwill not only be training with other elite players from around the world, he will also be given opportunities to learn about the history and culture of Barcelona. If you’ve ever met Finley, you know he’s a man of the world and absolutely loves learning about other cultures and is as excited about exploring a new country as he is about upgrading his soccer skills. Finely is also such a hard worker that he will be doing what he can to help pay for this camp on his own. He is quite the accomplished young chef, and plans to create Spanish charcuterie board to sell in order to raise funds.

On the soccer field, he is his team’s goalie, and loves growing with his team by practicing during the week and playing games on the weekend. Off the field, Finley is an outstanding scholar currently in 5th grade. Last year, he was one of 10 students in his entire school of 600 kids to get straight A’s all year! He is a history buff, especially about World War 2, plays the clarinet in the school band, was elected to the student council, is an Arrow of Light Scout, and is constantly curious about everything. He’s recently started online Spanish lessons as well to prepare for his Barcelona adventure.

In short, Finley is not only a driven athlete, but also someone who fully appreciates what this opportunity means for his personal development.

The cost of sending Finely to Barcelona is outlined below. Any assistance you are willing to give to support this young athlete-scholar is incredibly appreciated!