Help Zen go to a Soccer Academy in Spain !

My name is Zen Bailey and I am 13 years old. I was born in California and raised in Hawaii. I am bilingual since both my parents are from Venezuela, so at home I always spoke Spanish, and only English at school.

I started playing soccer when I was 5 years old, with Coach Paco Saavedra, who saw me playing at a party with other kids and he asked my dad to bring me to practice the next day. As soon as I set my foot on that field that was it: " love at first sight".

Since then I have been playing with many teams, many grassroots pick up games in different places of the world.

Very young I decided that I wanted to be a pro footballer so I started training daily and playing with better players as much as I could, but even though Hawaii has amazing players and coaches, I started to notice that to make my dream come true, one day I would have to go and play somewhere else to learn more about the sport.

 

And so life sometimes has funny coincidences, like for example having my uncle and auntie living in Barcelona, Spain, one of the best places in the world to play soccer!!! So I went on vacation to visit them this past summer and at the same time I attended a great soccer academy called Fundación Marcet, to do a two week training and this is where the opportunity came to me. I was invited to participate in a year residency with The Marcet Academy to develop my skills as

player and as a person. With the help of so many people I decided to take this

next step in my life and, even though I will miss my friends and family, in my heart, there is no doubt about it.

 

If you have the possibility of supporting me in this new chapter of my life I will be really grateful. Anything is helpful: positive wishes, a share, a donation or an advice.

All donations will go towards my Academy expenses.

 

With love and gratitude I thank you all !

 

Zen Bailey