History
International Soccer & Education Courses
The Early Years - EduKick History
Posted Friday, August 17, 2018
EduKick Football History
EduKick, Inc. is owned and operated by Joseph W. Bilotta. Bilotta currently resides in Toronto, ON. Canada.
Bilotta (shown while in New York meeting with A.C. Perugia club officials) created EduKick based on the philosophy that exposure to foreign language studies, other cultures and international soccer training abroad would accelerate personal growth in student athletes around the world. He wanted EduKick to be different; a complete package that would have a lasting and positive influence on the youth today and for the future.
As a professional, soccer fanatic and father, he wanted to create a program that maximized the youth’s time abroad; instilling a sense of independence and pride in themselves for having experienced international travel, structured language study, cultural excursions, and professional international soccer training.
His Story
While Bilotta was a teenager, something happened that would change his life forever. He was selected to play on a team from Northern California that went to Germany to play a series of matches against German youth.
The teenage soccer player had the experience of his life and credited that trip with being instrumental in his development as a youth. “It completely changed the way I looked at the world and myself,” said Bilotta, who would go on to learn Spanish and Italian as an adult.
“I can easily trace my interest in languages back to that trip I took as a kid. I remember feeling a sense of confidence upon returning home, I new that I was wiser and it felt special.”
Staff Professional Background
EduKick President and Founder, Joey Bilotta...
played Division 1 college soccer at St. Mary’s College of California (BA in Psychology, 1986) and then went on to play professionally in Spain and in the U.S. during his twenties. Bilotta began playing soccer at age six, thanks to the Austrian father of his best neighborhood friend; now 54 years old, Bilotta continues to play top-level amateur soccer (Over-30) with Oakville MCM SC in Ontario, Canada.
Bilotta continues to be involved in the game after retiring from professional soccer in 1991. In fact, during the U.S. hosted 1994 FIFA World Cup, Bilotta was hired to be the official FIFA World Cup “spokesperson” for the California State Lottery. In that capacity, he appeared throughout the state in special events promoting the U.S. FIFA World Cup and American youth soccer.
professional playing career
After his professional playing career, Bilotta (pictured here promoting the US hosted 1994 FIFA World Cup for the California State Lottery) turned his attention to youth program management.
He worked as a “Youth Market Director” for the American Heart Association and also as an “Assistant Director” of an Anti-Tobacco non-profit that operated throughout three counties in Central California. Bilotta also worked in education, both as a teacher and as a high school counselor (3 years at San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, CA).
He is a U.S.S.F. licensed soccer coach, certified bilingual educator (DELE Spanish Proficiency Certificate – issued by the Spanish Embassy in Canada via Salamanca University, Espa|a), and a seasoned youth soccer camp program specialist.
considerable experience
Mr. Bilotta (pictured here while at the EduKick Spain "Elite" camp facility, "Ciudad del Futbol" in Madrid)
has considerable experience in the field of youth travel development and programs. Prior to opening EduKick, Inc., Bilotta started Bilotta Co., a company that took Canadian youth to Spain for a language and culture summer course. Previous to that position, Mr. Bilotta
worked as an assistant to Professor Jorge Santana (santana@csus.edu) Head of Spanish Department, University of California at Sacramento, in a summer cultural exchange program course abroad in Madrid, Spain in Europe.
Whether as a program manager, teacher, counselor, coach or camp director, Bilotta has over 35 years of professional experience working with young people in education and/or soccer related programs. In fact, Bilotta’s first paid soccer coaching position, while still a Sophomore at St. Mary’s College in 1984, was with Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, California.
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