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                                                                                                           local Friday 14 april 2023

            Young soccer player Fabio Montilla’s dreams come true at the

            Real Madrid Foundation World Challenge Tournament 2023






















































            (Oranjestad)—Since  last  year,  the  young  Fabio  normally  plays  defense  and  dur-
            soccer  player,  Fabio  Alexander  Montilla,  ing the tournament, he scored two goals,
            was preparing to fly to Madrid, Spain, so he  which  made  him  very  happy,  especially
            can participate in the Real Madrid Foun-   because he was a defense. He told our re-
            dation World Challenge Tournament 2023.  porter that he was also happy because he
            From  March  31st  to  April 8th  of  this year,  received  great  feedback  from  different
            Fabio was at the Real Madrid Sports City to  people and coaches at the tournament.
            play in this tournament. He sat down with  “Everyone liked how I played. I hope to go
            our reporter to share his unforgettable ex-  there more often.”
            periences there.
                                                       Claudia  Merino,  Fabio’s  mother,  flew  to
            It was last year that Fabio received an in-  Spain with the soccer player and she also
            vitation from the Real Madrid Foundation  told  our  reporter  her  experiences  during
            to play in their annual tournament after he  this exciting time for her son. “I thought it
            participated in the soccer trial organized  to be a beautiful experience for the kids.
            by the foundation and held in Aruba. This  They got the opportunity to play with kids
            was his biggest dream come true.           from all over the world and each one had
                                                       their own unique style of playing soccer,”
            “I had a great time. The soccer over there  she indicated.
            is  very  good,  and  so  was  my  team,  but
            they  were  short  and  the  kids  over  there  Merino remarked that it was not easy for
            are pretty tall. They are stronger and since  the children, seeing as this was something
            the kids from my team were short, the big-  completely  new  and  difficult  too,  be-
            ger kids kept pushing them aside. I think if  cause no one in Fabio’s team really knew
            we had played against kids our own size,  each other, so they had to adapt quickly
            we would’ve gotten much farther,” he ex-   to  able  to  play  together  as  a  team.  De-
            pressed.                                   spite  the  short  time  they  had  to  train  to-
                                                       gether, she was happy with the results and
            Fabio’s team placed 4th overall and what  her son’s performance.
            was most exciting for him was that he was
            selected  team  captain.  He  shared  that  “I  actually  think  they’ll  never  forget  this
            they  played  well  and  that  everyone  did  experience,  because  they  never  imag-
            their absolute best during the tournament.  ined to be competing in an international
            “We played well; we played with strength,  tournament organized by the actual Real
            passion,  attitude  and  heart.  I  defended  Madrid  Foundation.  I  think  it’s  absolutely
            the  best  I  could  and  everyone  else  did  beautiful and I’m so glad that Fabio got
            their best too,” he said.                  his chance too,” she finalized. q
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