From the Akron Legal News 2/9/2010:  A local attorney wants to score a big goal by raising $80,000 to send The University of Akron NCAA Division I men’s soccer champs to the Adidas International Training in Madrid, Spain. And whatever he doesn’t raise, his law firm has committed to pay.

Friday evening, Paul Perantinides of Perantinides and Nolan, is hosting a Spanish themed party at his Akron home, 4527 Bridle Trail, complete with the appropriate cuisine, flamenco dancers and a guitarist. The starting time is 5 p.m. The soccer team and Coach Caleb Porter, university President Luis Proenza and his wife Theresa will all be in attendance, Perantindes said. Commitment levels are $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000. A 1969 alum of Akron Law, Perantines is known as a baseball man but follows Akron’s soccer team, whose coach has impressed him because players have to keep a grade point average of 3.5 or higher and put in their time for the team. And since Porter doesn’t let the team miss school, the training in Madrid works out because it takes place the same week as the university’s spring break, March 15 - 20.

“The fact of the matter is, this coach really captured my imagination,” Perantinides said. “We are guaranteed to raise the money. Whatever we don’t raise, we’re going to pay.” “In general, the team rarely gets outside funding for travel,” said Paul Warner, Akron’s assistant director for athletics communications. “For a trip of this magnitude, however, I would say that outside funding would not only be common-place, but essential.” The training will provide the team with the unique and valuable opportunity to train with, compete against and observe one of the premiere professional soccer programs in the world -- Real Madrid, he said.

The team will be taking 21 players, four coaches, one trainer and one manager. It will be the first overseas trip for Akron soccer since Porter took the helm in 2006, Warner added. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime for the Akron soccer program to spend our spring break in Spain, the top soccer country in the world right now,” Porter said. “To be able to immerse ourselves in the game as well as take in the Spanish culture will make for a unique experience unlike anything our team has done before.

“Not only do I expect our players to grow as soccer players, but also as people, and they will certainly remember this overseas trip forever. “I would like to thank Paul Perantinides for his generous contributions towards making this experience happen. Certainly, Tom Wistrcill and the entire University of Akron athletic department deserve credit for program to spend our spring break in Spain, the top soccer country in the world right now,” Porter said. “To be able to immerse ourselves in the game as well as take in the Spanish culture will make for a unique experience unlike anything our team has done before. “Not only do I expect our players to grow as soccer players, but also as people, and they will certainly remember this overseas trip forever."