Soccer star receives Real Madrid invite

By Brian Besch
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At just nine years of age, Neymar Davalos has accomplished plenty on the soccer pitch. He competes on one of the state’s best youth teams, and was recently selected to display his talent in Europe with other children from around the world. 

“Neymar started playing soccer whenever he was four in Livingston,” his father, Rey, said. “His skill and I.Q. level was way up there. We went south and he has been playing the clubs since in Houston. He is playing competitive all the time.

“There is a camp called Real Madrid based out of Spain. They had a camp, and you pay for the camp. The thing about it is, if they like your skills and see that you have potential, they select you to go and compete in a world challenge. They get kids from all over the world to compete in that tournament. They will have 480 kids, and Neymar was selected in that camp in Houston, and he is going to be representing USA.

Rey explained that there are similar camps from many different countries in which children are selected. Neymar got the call for competing in the elite tournament, versus other fourth and fifth graders. 

The Polk County Sheriff’s Officer said his son also competed in a national tournament that took place in Las Vegas. His team from the Houston area reached the quarterfinals. It is the top-ranked squad in the Houston area and No. 7 in the state.

“You go and try out, and they liked how Neymar played. Basically, Neymar is going to be playing middle defense, and sometimes he goes all the way up to score. He is going to be the one giving passes to kids who can score. There’s a lot of competition in that team. They gave him a scholarship, which the max scholarship they give you is 50%. I had to come up with the other. Right now, this coming up weekend, we are going to go to Dallas. At the end of this month, we’re going to Dallas again to compete.”

There is plenty of travel involved with the league. Neymar’s mother, Claudia, shuttles him to Baytown three days a week and will also travel to Katy or Nacogdoches regularly. The Cedar Grove fourth grader is only nine, but soccer programs begin scouting and recruiting kids around 12 and 13. Neymar is also a minor social media star, with 1,300 followers on his Instagram page. You can follow him at neymardavalos_2015 or on TikTok at neymar_davalos to see him in action.