Belizean Youth Football Accepted to Barça Academy
A young football athlete from the south is the first Belizean to be accepted in a prestigious and renowned football academy. Sixteen-year-old Jardehl Muschamp plays a forward position on the field and in early August, he was one of three persons chosen from a group of sixty-eight footballers from twenty-seven different states in the U.S. and four countries to join Barça Academy. Located in Arizona, the organization is a venture by F.C. Barcelona, which is known as one of the premier and most renowned soccer clubs in the world. The U.S.-based soccer development academy programme works along with young athletes on the field. Today, Jardehl and his father, Hilberto Muschamp travelled from Placencia to our studios to share the historic news for the country.
Hilberto Muschamp
Hilberto Muschamp, Father of Jardehl Muschamp
“Earlier this year we noticed the talent of the young man and so we decided to try to develop his skills. I contacted a coach that used to coach me in my time and we had lined up for him to go try out for a team in UPSL; that didn’t work out. He was already in training so I started looking at alternatives because I didn’t want to break all the efforts that he had already put in into getting ready. We saw two academies; there was one out of Orlando and then when I find the Barcelona one in United States which was kinda surprising to me and then the success rate that they were having, I said yeah this is the one we want to try. So we went ahead and enrolled him, got the tryout dates and start looking for tickets. We left here on the ninth of August to start the tryouts on the tenth, eleventh and the twelfth. This academy had three tryouts this year; one in June, one in July and they had already selected their team for this year, but they were missing a few pieces so that’s how come they had the third tryout and that’s the time he got in. So when he was selected, they told us that there wasn’t much scholarship funds remaining. But yes, he was part of the three that were selected out of the sixty-eight people that showed up.”
Jardehl Muschamp
Jardehl Muschamp, Football Athlete
“It was a very good experience. You get to play football the correct way, professional way and you also eat properly like a professional.”
Duane Moody
“What is the best thing that you are going to take away from that?”
Jardehl Muschamp
“To be honest, it’s gotta be everything.”
Duane Moody
“Sixteen and wanting to be a professional football player; talk to us about what motivated that?”
Jardehl Muschamp
“I’ve been playing from a very young. My coach Mister Norman motivated me in training and always tell me I am going to make it no matter what and to always got that mindset.”
