Footballers meet Villarreal stars

During their half-term holidays, 22 footballers from King’s were hosted by Spanish Champions League side Villarreal for a week’s pre-season practice. With intensive daily training in the Mediterranean sunshine, the Spanish coaches picked out Jake Knowlton-Parry as a real talent.

While Jake did not get signed by the Spanish giants, he attended two Spanish La Liga matches with the rest of the squad at Villarreal and nearby Valencia, and had the opportunity to watch the Villarreal 1st team in training at close quarters, meeting such players as Diego Forlan, Pascal Cygan and Argentinean World Cup star Riquelme for autographs and photos afterwards.

Team captain George Painter said, "While the players were incredibly friendly, the highlight of the tour for me was scoring a goal in one of our matches against the future stars of the Villarreal Academy Youth Team. The whole week was about football, the coaching was excellent and we all learned first-hand how real professionals approach the game."