Rising Soccer Star

A new Era of Soccer has approached Texas A&M International Athletics, bringing students from all over the world. One young man has captured the attention of Men's Soccer Coach, Claudio Arias. Three years ago, Arias discovered a young man named Adan Villavicencio, who has an uprising talent in the field, and the vigor to enrich his education in the United States. 

Adan started playing soccer when he was six years old in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela.  The young soccer player won many tournaments in his native country Venezuela. When Adan graduated from high school, he started looking for ways to come to the U. S. Therefore he enrolled in a private tournament  where coaches from different colleges, get invited to choose players of their interest who they foresee as young future superstars. Arias showed a special interest in Adan, and got the opportunity to play for TAMIU. Adan knew it would be hard to leave his family and friends back home to come to another country, but what made it so much easier was the support of his brother, Abel Villavicencio former player of the TAMIU Soccer team. Adan explained "We've always supported each other regardless of the situation."  One of Adan's greatest memories was winning the 2010 Conference Championship along with his brother, and his teammates, Adan stated "It was the first championship in TAMIU history, and we'll keep it for a couple of years." 

Even though soccer is very important for Adan, his motivation outside the field, is his career. Adan is currently studying for Business Administration, with a major in Management. It's no easy task managing soccer practices, out of town games, and classes, but he is more than good at accomplishing all this tasks, and stay on track with school assignments by talking to the professor in advance before they travel to on-season games and tournaments. He also shared "Professors are really nice and they understand we are athletes, and try to come up with different approaches to help us in our classes".  

Adan encourages new athletes that are interested in becoming Dustdevil's Athletes to follow his steps to succeed. He is convinced that TAMIU is an exceptional university to live, study and play your favorite sport. As he mentioned "The People in this town are very nice and if you are from another country, it is a place where you can feel welcomed, and not miss your family so much." Men's Soccer Team encourages TAMIU Students to show their support and follow their schedule, results and news, on the official website www.godustdevils.com/sports/m-soccer.com

For comments or more information please contact Linda Fahara at lindafahara@dusty.tamiu.edu