Claire McKinley is a 10 years old girl crazy about soccer! At B1, we are delighted and proud to meet young girls with her talent, so we would love to share her story with all of you!
Claire McKinley is an American girl who plays for RCD Espanyol girls team as a winger. She has been playing soccer since she was two years old! Our coach Marina knew her in Colorado and kept in touch. When both came to Barcelona they reconnected and Marina began doing match analysis with Claire to help her improve her game understanding. Since then, Marina has been always attending to her games to support her and her team. Now, she continues doing analysis as needed for her improvement.
Claire started loving soccer with her father, and afterward, she enrolled in a team in EEUU that was mixed with both, boys and girls. Finally, she and her family came to Barcelona, where she claimed to be ”happy with the team, with the European soccer, the city and with the people”.
At her young age, she is a really smart girl who is able to speak five languages: Spanish, Catalan, English, Chinese and a bit of French. She enjoys school and her favorite subject is writing. Claire describes herself to be outgoing, funny, and at times incredibly competitive.
In the United States, she trained mix with the boys but also played the matches against girls, which she believes is really interesting.
“Training with boys makes you stronger sometimes but I feel lucky I can train in Barcelona with a girls team”.
Claire is also a women’s soccer fan. She has already booked the tickets to assist to the Women’s World Cup this summer in France and she won’t miss the next 22 of April the match between RSD Espanyol and Atletico de Madrid.
About the successful last women’s soccer events in Spain, she declared to be really excited. She loves Spanish soccer style and her favorite player is María León.
“It is fair that women’s soccer becomes as popular as men’s soccer, we train the same, we work the same…”
At B1 Soccer Academy we are sure there are a lot of young talented women’s players like Claire, who is waiting for an opportunity to grow. Now Claire has now not only a Marina as a fan from B1, but the whole team is also now delighted with this amazing girl.
As you may know, this summer we are getting ready to celebrate B1 Girls Camp looking for discovering the future of women’s soccer all around the world. If you are reading this, we wait for you in Barcelona!
