‘I needed a more competitive environment’

“I’m here because I want to improve as a footballer and for that, I simply need a more competitive environment.” Mia Soma references her stay in Barcelona. A getaway from her everyday routine, with her family by her side, and a step towards her dream of playing for the US National Team. At 12 years old, the San Diego right-back isn’t a stranger to her vocation. Mia is all too used to facing the challenges of her ambitious journey towards footballing excellence head on.

Mia’s first contact with Marcet was last summer when the young American athlete signed up for a two-week campus. “I’d already been recommended Marcet by a few people,” recalls Mark, the girl’s father. “We knew that it was a very intense course, mostly involving boys. What we didn’t know is how Mia would approach the experience. It turned out to be a very positive venture so here we are, back for more with the Checking Program.”

“we WANTED HER TO TRAIN WITH BOYS, because it can work in her favour in terms of making quicker progress”

Back in the US, Mia plays for the Albion Soccer Club‘s women’s team. Her father sees the fact that she’s training with boys as a valuable asset. “It’s something we were looking for, because it can essentially work in her favour, especially in terms of making quicker progress where strength and speed are concerned.” Other players that have gone through Marcet -like Berta Pujadas or María Concha– have already proven the effectiveness of training in mixed teams. Mia is not an exception.

“She has seen some serious progress after the two-week summer course, and now the experience is proving itself to have been very productive,” explains Mark. “Here she’s training two to three times a day, seven days a week, whereas back at home she was only doing two to four sessions a week. I don’t have the words to explain how much she has taken on. To be honest, I think she’s just risen to another dimension of football.”