The Villarreal youth player combines División de Honor football with his passion for writing
A rock on the pitch and a lover of writing in his spare time. A brilliant mind on and off the pitch. That’s Dani Gamboa (Barcelona, 16/01/2005), a Villarreal youth football who competes in the División de Honor. The Catalan player regularly writes texts about his vision of the world with his fine prose, as well showing his physical power in matches. He currently lives in the residence at the José Manuel Llaneza Training Ground, where he combines football with his high school studies and his passion for writing.
“My parents are are all about words and literature. My mother, for example, works at the Planeta publishing house. They love reading and have always instilled in me the habit of reading. I’ve had a passion for writing since I was about 15 years old. I started to write my own little things, such as current affairs that might interest me, like politics, to find out what is happening in the world,” explains Gamboa about his beginnings in this exciting world.
However, the support of one of his teachers was key to continuing to nurture this hobby, which has now become one of his passions, along with football: “In addition, a Language and Literature teacher at IES Miralcamp told me that I was quite good at this and that I had to promote it. We sent some articles to the media and I had one published in a magazine. The tutors at the residence are also surprised when I ask them to print out a text for class and they read it,” added the central defender.
The Yellow footballer writes about all kinds of current affairs: “In class we write opinion articles on topics such as the polarisation of politics or inclusive language. I like topics that can create a bit of controversy and give my point of view.”
A man of letters
With a little less than a year to go to university, the youth player is still not sure where he is going to focus his academic future, as he finds motivation in several different subjects: “There are a lot of things I like. Journalism is one of the things I have there, but also economics or the world of education because I always go as a monitor to the summer camps organised by my school. I do it altruistically because I like it. I would also like to be able to help children with special needs, so social work is another possible way out.”
Moreover, cases such as Gamboa’s help to disprove the cliché of the uneducated footballer with no interest in other aspects. “There has always been the cliché of the stupid footballer who only knows how to run after a ball. I would say to these people that yes, we do run after a ball, but with a meaning. Thanks to social networks, footballers can show themselves as they are and many publish photos of themselves with their family, giving training sessions, etc. People are changing that opinion a bit,” he says.
Comfortable in Miralcamp
Gamboa played for a number of well-known teams in Catalan football until he arrived at Barça, a club from which he ended up signing for the Yellows Academy. “I started with my local team, CE Europa, from the age of four to 12. From there I went to CF Damm and then to Barcelona. It wasn’t my best period and last season I signed for Villarreal. I wanted to go out and try new things. I had discussed it with my family and my agent and, when they told me that there was a chance to come, I didn’t think about it because it has a reputation for being a youth academy where they look after you and, if everything goes well, there are opportunities,” says Gamboa.
Despite the change of life and city, the young Daniel showed an incredible adaptation when he arrived at his new home: “I had always been at home and in the residence you get together with a lot of kids from different autonomous communities with very different cultures and ways of being, but the adaptation period lasted the first night. We are a family.”
Now, Dani Gamboa competes at the highest level in the División de Honor and dreams of being able to continue taking steps in yellow grassroots football as many of his counterparts have done in recent years who have made their debuts with the first team. Of course, without neglecting his studies.
