ASTORIA — Soccer star David Villa is expanding his network of youth soccer academies to Queens, with a new location in Astoria where youngsters can learn to play like pros.
The DV7 Soccer Academy — started by Villa, captain of the New York City Football Club — will hold tryouts next month for the training program, which will start in September and be based at Upper 90 Queens, a soccer center with an indoor field on 38th Street near 34th Avenue.
The coed soccer club is for kids who were born between 2007 and 2012, and will teach the "Spanish soccer methodology," which "allows players to develop soccer skills while fostering personal values on and off the field," according to its website.
DV7 has similar soccer academies in cities across the globe, as well as a club in Manhattan. The year-long program costs $2,400, though scholarships and other financial assistance will be available to families, a rep for the company said.
Welcome to @DV7Astoria , our new @DV7Soccer club in Queens. Sign up for the tryouts here: https://t.co/MhvJxZpqcn . See you there! https://t.co/5n2ofLZPIO
— David Villa (@Guaje7Villa) May 23, 2017
Tryouts for the Astoria location will take place June 8 and June 11, and participants must register in advance.
The club will have space for about 50 players. There will also be supplemental training programs for kids who want improve their skills and get to the level required to be admitted to the club, a spokesman said.
This isn't the first time that Villa — last year's Major League Soccer MVP who originally hails from Spain — has lent his expertise to local kids.
He opened a kids' soccer camp at Queens College last summer, as well as a free clinic at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
