The prospect of marking David Villa, even in a training scrimmage, would give most 16-year old soccer players sleepless nights.
However, Academy defender James Sands doesn’t seem to be your average 16-year old.
The New Yorker is making his own piece of history on this preseason training camp in Jacksonville, becoming the first NYCFC Academy product to train with the first-team.
A mature, forward-thinking defender, Sands is part of the U.S Soccer Youth Residency program in Bradenton along with his twin brother Will who is also in NYCFC’s Academy structure.
Now facing off against top class talent every day for two weeks in Florida, he’s settling to the task and learning from some of the best on this steep learning curve.