Princeton R.C. Celta Academy opening doors to prospective players

Carlos Figueroa has been a part of Mercer County soccer for more than three decades now.

He was a standout player at Princeton High and an assistant coach at the Pennington School, along with plenty of other involvement in the sport he loves.

Figueroa has seen plenty of strong soccer players come through the area, but few of them go on to play professionally.

Through a partnership with Ignacio Espinoza and Vladi Segura, Figueroa is opening the Princeton R.C. Celta Soccer Academy with the hope of helping players reach their full potential.

With Figueroa as the CEO and president, Segura the technical director of the soccer academy and Espinoza as the general director, Princeton R.C. Celta wants to bring the Spanish methodology from the first team of R.C. Celta to help train local athletes.

“I’ve been trying to do something in this area for a while,” Figueroa said. “I looked at a lot of clubs, but we didn’t have the same ideas. Now we’re going to be working with the first team and using their methodology. I think that’s important because, from what I’ve seen, no one uses the methodology of that club.”

“We want to share with the people of Princeton what we feel is a new way to teach soccer,” Segura said. “We respect children’s development and the complexity of soccer. We hope that they too can respect the teaching part of the game of soccer.”

That having been said, this new soccer academy and its leaders do not want to be misunderstood.

“We don’t want to come in and say all the other academies out there are wrong in their approach,” Espinoza said. “We’re just giving a different approach. Players can come attend our clinics and get side work done. We’re not trying to steal players. We’re here to help educate and form players, so they can have success at every level.”

In order to do that, the Princeton R.C. Celta Soccer Academy wants to convey to players “soccer had four parts which can’t be separated,” in Segura’s words.

“We believe that soccer cannot survive without methodology, psychology, technique and tactics, and we want to teach that to the players,” Espinoza said. “We believe there is a lot of potential in the United States. But we feel the tactical part is lacking. A lot of players don’t know what to do without a ball at their feet.”

In an effort to show players what it is all about, Princeton R.C. Celta Soccer Academy will be presenting a summer camp at Stuart Country Day School from 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Aug. 28-Sept. 1. According to the academy’s website (rcceltasocceracademy.com), the camp is “focused toward those who desire an intense soccer program directed toward professionalism.” Interested players can register at the website, or if there are more questions, contact Figueroa at (609) 209-6163.

“We want to let people know we are pioneers of soccer,” Figueroa said, noting that the academy, which is open to boys and girls from ages 5-20, will be working out of Schafer Gymnastics in Ewing once the high school season gets going in September. “We want to show people we are who we say we are. We’re not trying to step on other people’s toes. We’re trying to teach kids the right way to play soccer.”

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