For 6 Indiana Elite FC players, what might be considered the journey of a lifetime started last summer.  They took an opportunity, worked and played hard, and now they are headed for a week to Barcelona, Spain on March 5.

Indiana Elite FC and RCD Espanyol de Barcelona joined a partnership to host a 2017 Player ID Camp for boys and girls ages 8-18 at the IEFC fields this past summer which was overseen by RCD Espanyol and its academy coaches. RCD Espanyol de Barcelona is a professional soccer club that plays in Spain’s elite La Liga. 

Players took part in professional coaching, practice drills, and evaluation by the coaches.  Top athletes were chosen for a national trip to Georgia last July for more competition, coaching, and evaluation from RCD Espanyol, FC Utrecht, ADO Den Haag, and Malaga CF coaches. 

After a final cut, IEFC’s 6 top players from the camp, Tre Adams, Gavin Stagg, Danny Salazar, Luis Saucedo, Alexis Cantero, and Max Johnson, received an invitation to the elite academy trip to Barcelona March 5-12.

Players are looking forward to their journey, and a few even described it as a chance of a lifetime.  Tre Adams, 13, and Gavin Stagg, 13, have never been out of the country, and both have dreams of playing soccer professionally.  “We will see and learn how players from Barcelona train and compete,” said Adams, who started soccer at the age of 5.  “I am very excited to just play soccer in Barcelona,” added Stagg, who started at the age of 3 with encouragement from his father.

Both Adams and Stagg are brushing up on their Spanish before the trip, and will be traveling with their mothers.

Melissa Adams is looking forward to the experience and impact this trip will have on her son, Tre.  “It will be exciting going to another country to see the differences in how they play soccer compared to the United States,” she said. “Tre sleeps, eats and breathes soccer.  He works hard, and all that hard work is paying off.  This is a life changing experience.”

As for funding the experience, Melissa Adams says she and her son have worked together to make this trip a reality.  “We’re working on fundraising for this chance of a lifetime,” she said.  Melissa makes sure that Tre has a hand in the fundraising as well so he can understand the importance of hard work and the ultimate payoff to Barcelona.

Alexis Cantero, 17, has played for IEFC for the past 5 years.  The Morton High School junior has his sights set on the Barcelona academy trip, and as a future goal.  “I’m hoping to stay in Barcelona someday,” he said.  “I would like to be a part of the academy.  That’s my goal.”   He would like to study Automotive Technology in college to become a mechanic, and hopes soccer will open up scholarship opportunities.

He will certainly have a busy spring.  Not only will Cantero attend the trip to Barcelona in March, he has also received an invitation to play in England this April.  “I just can’t wait to go to Barcelona,” he said. “I can’t wait to actually be there. It’s my dream.”

A soccer coach’s inspiration and motivation can stay with a player for a lifetime.  Just ask Lake Central High School senior Kyle Orciuch. 

On February 7, he signed his National Letter of Intent with Stanford University in California during a ceremony at Lake Central High School. He invited several of his soccer coaches that have influenced his personal and professional development. Being in the top 5 percent of his senior class, Orciuch received an athletic scholarship to play soccer for the elite university, and has plans to major in Aerospace Engineering.

Indiana Elite FC President and Director of Coaching, Novi Marojevic, was invited to attended Orciuch’s singing because of the important part he has had in shaping the St. John resident through his soccer training. Orciuch trained and competed as a goalkeeper with Marojevic for 4 years under the Indiana Tigers and Chicago Fire Juniors teams.  In 2012, he inspired Orciuch to train with the Chicago Fire Academy in Bridgeview, where he currently plays.

“Coach Novi has always supported me as a young goalkeeper to learn through my mistakes.  He’s developed me into a player with more confidence outside of my box in making riskier decisions that have higher rewards,” said Orciuch. “He helped me to become an academy-level goalkeeper and prepared me for the transition into the Chicago Fire Academy very well.”

According to his father Mark, his son wanted to thank all of his present and past coaches individually at Kyle’s National Signing Day ceremony because they all added a different contribution to his career, “building him up as a person and as a player.” 

“Novi was one of Kyle’s first coaches, and had a big impact on him as a player. We felt that Novi should be there at the signing, because he laid the foundation for Kyle as a player.”

 Since Stanford has a low acceptance rate and an elite soccer program, playing soccer puts the university’s applicants in a different pool, according to Mark Orciuch. “Kyle has had to work very hard, both academically and athletically.”

 “I was honored to have Coach Novi support me and stand behind me for my signing because he definitely deserved to be there,” said Kyle Orciuch. “I wanted to thank all my coaches for facilitating my development when I was a member of Indiana Tigers, Chicago Fire Juniors, Indiana ODP, and now the Chicago Fire Soccer Academy.  Without your continued support, I never would have been able to experience the opportunity that I have before me today; for that, I am extremely grateful.”

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