A member of the Madisonville-North Hopkins boys soccer team is set to have a unique experience this fall. J.J. Brown, a sophomore to be, has been given the opportunity to play with the Barca Academy 16U team, which is based in Casa Grande, Arizona.
Brown tried out for the team in February, which will begin play in August. He will he living in a dorm style setting attending Arizona State University prep on the Barca campus with the rest of his teammates.
This is not Brown’s first experience outside of the area. In 2017 he played in Barcelona, Spain, and in 2019 he played in multiple cities in Italy.
During his freshman season at Madisonville, Brown scored five goals and had 12 assists.
According to the academy’s website, “Barça Residency Academy USA is a partnership between a world-renowned soccer club FC Barcelona and Grande Sports World – a Center for Excellence in youth soccer development and education in the United States. The Academy will compete at the highest levels within the MLS Elite Youth Development Platform. As the only full-time residential academy program partnered with a top international professional team, student-athletes live and train on Grande Sports World’s campus that features: on-site dormitories, eight soccer fields, professional nutritional programming, an outstanding high school, and a 58,000 square foot state-of-the-art athletic training facility.”
