Young soccer players cherish once-in-a-lifetime experience – Hazleton Standard Speaker

When four Mountain Top boys participated in a soccer camp in Philadelphia lastsummer, they had no idea it would lead to a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Spain.

The boys — Daniel Benyo, Hunter Kruk, Christopher McGeer and Landon Sadowski —participated in a camp run by the Barça Academy, the official academy of FC Barcelona,the most successful soccer team in Spanish history. At these camps held around theworld, a handful of players are selected to train at FC Barcelona’s facilities in Barcelona.

The Mountain Top youngsters were among those offered the opportunity to travel toBarcelona in March for the 10-day camp which combines advanced Barça Style trainingwith a full immersion in Barcelona’s culture.

“I was really excited when I found out that I was selected,’ said Kruk. “I never expectedit,” he added. He traveled to Spain with his mom and dad, Ray and Jennifer Kruk, alongwith his teammates and their families.

The four boys, ages 11 and 12, are involved with Mountain Top Youth Soccer and alsoplay for the MTFC Mayhem team which competes in the Philadelphia area, Marylandand Delaware. Ray Kruk coaches the MTFC Mayhem team along with JJ Iracki.

“It was a great experience,” Hunter Kruk said of the trip. “I learned to play with somenew people. It was cool.”

Kruk, like Bento, said the Barca style of play is much quicker than they were used to.“There wee a lot of passing drills and we learned to move the ball around,” Kruk related.

“We learned to keep passing the ball around to create holes to help us to score,” Benyosaid. “We had to adapt to get used to that style of play. We learned skills to helpimprove playing without the ball,” he added.

Both boys agreed that the skills they learned at the Barca Camp will help them improvetheir play with Mountain Top FC Mayhem and in the future.

Besides training, the boys got to tour Barcelona, taste some Spanish foods and playgames in major soccer stadiums in front of large crowds. “It was a cool experience,”Hunter Kruk said of playing in the large stadiums in front of big crowds. He noted thegames were played at night under lights, also a new experience.

“It was my first time playing in front of such a large crowd,” Benyo related. “I was excitedbut also nervous.”

The boys and their families also had the opportunity to see a couple professional soccergames including one in which FC Barcelona played in a Champions League game. “It

was like a playoff game between the Cowboys and the Eagles,” Ray Kruk commented,“It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”

His son Hunter agreed. “The atmosphere was electric,” said the Rice Elementary sixthgrader. “The fans were crazy. They (FC Barcelona) played a game against a team fromPortugal. The fans were breaking stuff and chanting the entire game. It was worse thanan Eagles game!’

His teammate Daniel Benyo agreed.” It was such a great atmosphere,” he said the St.Jude School student.

Benyo noted that the players and their families also got to explore some centuries oldchurches and taste new foods. “The food was great – different but excellent,” he offered.