{"id":76373,"date":"2019-04-03T12:03:13","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T10:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=76373"},"modified":"2019-04-03T12:03:13","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T10:03:13","slug":"zobran-elias-secures-another-us-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2019\/04\/03\/zobran-elias-secures-another-us-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Zobran Elias secures another US deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>By Mabvuto Kambuwe:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lilongwe\u2019s Ascent Soccer Academy graduate, Zobran Elias, has earned a lucrative three-year scholarship, worth $ 260,000 (K187.2 million), at one of the United States\u2019 best academic and soccer institutions, Taft School of Connecticut.<\/p>\n<p>George Maguire, the founder of the Lilongwe academy that was previously called Chigoli Academy, said having joined Indian Mountain School in August 2018, Elias has excelled in classroom and on the pitch.<\/p>\n<p>His performance earned him the prestigious Davis Scholarship which is awarded to a male and female international applicant to Taft every year.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cThe three-year scholarship covers part contribution at some of America\u2019s top universities for four years, creating an incredible opportunity to not only reach new heights academically, but keep the option of professional football on the table with potential options into the MLS [Major League Soccer] in the US through the draft system,\u201d<\/em> Maguire said.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cZobran has exceeded our expectations. To relocate to the US and excel shows a young man of character, determination and ability\u2014exactly the kind of young man we exist to create. His story highlights how much youth talent there is in Malawi and what can happen if that talent is nurtured correctly. We are proud of Zobran acting as an inspiration to other children in the country whilst benefiting Malawi\u2019s national youth teams.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In a separate interview, Ascent Coach, Thom Mkolongo, said he was excited that the youngster continues to shine on the international stage.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cHe is a great talent and we are proud of his achievements in the US,\u201d<\/em> Mkolongo said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Zobran joined Ascent in 2016. Since 2015, the academy has selected 65 players built around three male squads and one for females.<\/p>\n<p>The academy provides private education, soccer coaching and character development, nutritional and medical support.<\/p>\n<p>Ascent contributed most players to the Malawi under-17 national football team which took part in the 2018 Cosafa Cup in Mauritius last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mabvuto Kambuwe: Lilongwe\u2019s Ascent Soccer Academy graduate, Zobran Elias, has earned a lucrative three-year scholarship, worth $ 260,000 (K187.2 million), at one of the United States\u2019 best academic and soccer institutions, Taft School of Connecticut. George Maguire, the founder of the Lilongwe academy that was previously called Chigoli Academy, said having joined Indian Mountain [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":76374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76375,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76373\/revisions\/76375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}