​Ripley teen travels to Spain to play soccer

Evan John of Ripley loves playing soccer and landed a great opportunity to take it to a new level, playing for two weeks in Spain.

For the past five months, the 17-year-old has been living in Toronto and playing soccer with the Under 20 (U20) Scarborough Town Football Club League One Reserve.

Earlier this year, he was approached by an organization that connected him to the team that was travelling to Spain.

“It was all based off my former statistics and my highlight video,” says Evan.

“We were in Spain from June 8-22,” he says. “It was a very interesting experience playing teams from Spain and I feel that I learned a lot about the style of play.”

His team won two of the three games they played.

“We won the first game, 5-1, and I scored three goals and got an assist,” says Evan. “We lost the second game, 3-0; and we won the final game, 4-1, and I scored another three goals.”

Evan says he plans to complete the season with the Scarborough Town team and in the fall, he will be committing to a post-secondary school to continue his academic and athletic career.

When he’s not playing soccer and studying, he enjoys spending time with his friends and family, and playing other sports.

Originally from Toronto, he and his family moved to Ripley when he was eight years old, to be closer to his mother’s family, including his grandparents and aunt and uncle. He has a younger brother, Will.