 | Annoucement: Dedication to Excellence Pays off:
Gianni Patino, 9, signs with Barca! |
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Gianni Patino
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Gianni Patino who has trained with the Tulis program since 2006 is like almost every other nine year old boy; he loves sports, plays basketball, has a brown belt in karate, enjoys hanging out with his friends, is an avid reader (having read entire collections of kids books), and he absolutely loves his PSP, DS, and PS3 (but he insists that if he had a trampoline and pool in his backyard, he would not play any video games at all). But there is one thing that separates Gianni from other 9 year old boys; Gianni has been selected for the elite Barca under–12 soccer team.
Barca is part of the phenomenally successful Barcelona soccer stronghold in Spain. For Gianni, who has practiced for many hours a day since he was first introduced to a soccer ball at age four - practicing tirelessly to a point where he can make it look absurdly easy to keep a ball off the ground for 300 touches with his knees or 200 touches with his feet and who aspires to one day play professional soccer; it is a dream come true.
“There are kids from all over the world trying to get into Barca,” says Gianni’s proud dad, Juan Carlos Patino. “His tryout in Barcelona was a gamble that paid off. The soccer is at another level over in Europe. But he took a ball, went through two defenders, took out the goalie and scored. The coach came right over and said, ‘We’ll see you in September.’”
It just goes to show you that hard work and dedication to excellence does eventually pay off.
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Average Score: 4
Votes: 4
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