Over the past ten years, there has been a huge flow of younger expats into the Torrevieja area. Towns like Rojales, San Miguel, Los Montesinos and Torrevieja have seen a massive increase of younger families coming. They have come not to retire but to build new lives for themselves in the Klondike that is (or was!) Spain! Like children the whole world over, the children of these families love football. So, in this 10 year period there have been a number of attempts to set up football clubs or teams for these children. One of the success stories for local kids’ football is “Tony’s Soccer School” and its Mil Palmeras teams. They are a fully-licensed and registered team and are controlled by the governing bodies regulation about squad size. However, they have an advantage over the bigger municipal teams in that if they have enough players in a certain age category, they then can simply enter an additional team into the less competitive Vega Baja League, allowing more players to have the opportunity to play regular games at the weekend.

Tony’s Soccer Club has been in operation for more than 4 years appealing mainly to players from the UK and Ireland who had difficultly breaking into the Spanish system. They have youth teams going on tours to England for 2012 and welcome clubs on tour from the UK, who are preparing for their new seasons. The club offers regular training nights and are a stable club, with a solid foundation.

For the 2011/2012 season they have league teams of all ages entered into different competitions. Training is at Mil Palmeras for Mini Kickers from three to five years at 10:00 Sundays, followed by those five to sixteen years of age on Sundays between 10:00 to 13:30pm and Wednesdays 18:00 to 20.30-hrs. They also have a Thursday training session at 18.15 at Pilar De La Horadada, for all players aged ten to sixteen years.

The school plays under the ‘Mil Palmeras’ banner in association with the local Ayutamiento and play their home games at Pilar De La Horadada. There are excellent opportunities for girls to play and their football coaches have been with the club since almost its inception. This is a well-organised, friendly and approachable football Club with excellent social and community links. They also offer those over fifteen-year olds the opportunity to undergo residential, player trials and assessments with ex-premier league club coaches in England and organise a ten-week summer camp which this year had more than 300 players in attendance.

This season they have brand-new, sponsored league kits along with a tracksuit sponsor so all the kids will look as sharp as their professional football heroes. The kits were kindly supplied by the area’s number one car hire company, Coys Cars. Their owner said, “We are delighted to be more closely associated with the school. We have been following the progress over several years and it is clear the school gives great pleasure to a huge number of children every week. Importantly, it is run in a professional manner and the children learn the value of discipline, friendship and team-spirit as well as pure football skills. We look forward to a long and happy relationship”. Along with their own training kits, regular player assessment and its player achievement and recognition system, the club clearly fills a much needed gap for players of all abilities and ages on the southern Costa Blanca. You can find out more information at www.tonys-soccer-school.net, on Facebook at ‘tonys soccer school’ or cut to the chase and speak with Tony directly on 678 955 501.