This week we’ve had the pleasure to welcome back Marco Scarpelli, who spent the last season with us taking part in the annual program of WOSPAC Stages. He’s come back for a couple of days to Barcelona to visit WOSPAC and his old friends he would never forget. He’s been the first and only (so far) Italian player of the WOSPAC family, but how did everything start?
“2 years ago I took part in a summer camp in Barcelona and I realized that I wanted to play here. I started searching for academies here on the Internet and I found WOSPAC. It seemed really appealing to me and I thought it would be a great experience and very useful for my future” – he says. He joined WOSPAC to play for the academy in the 2014/15 season, not just to improve his game, but also to get an international experience and to learn new languages. “In Italy the level of English we learn in school is really basic that is why most of the Italians have really bad English. When I came here I couldn’t say a word, neither in English, nor in Spanish” – he admits. However, thanks to WOSPAC and the classes with the International School now he has an advanced level of English and Spanish! “In the beginning it was tough, because most of my teammates could speak English and all the classes we had was also in English. But that is what helped me and by the Christmas holiday I could already communicate comfortably.”
Now he plays for an Italian professional team called ASD Trastevere Calcio, the second team of Rome (after AS Roma and without counting Lazio) and also where the living legend Francesco Totti played before joining AS Roma. They compete in the National Youth Division of Honour against teams like Juventus or Fiorentina, where he has scored 15 goals in 10 matches this season!
According to Marco, without the experience he gained at WOSPAC he couldn’t have joined Trastevere to play on this high level. His goal is to become a professional player, however he knows it is difficult to get to the top in Italy. “My dream is to play for Lazio one day, I go step by step and we will see what happens. Last year WOSPAC gave me everything and wherever I go I will never forget them. I learned and improved a lot that would help me to achieve great things in the future.”
We wish you the best of luck Marco and the doors of WOSPAC are always open for you!