When South Valley Chivas Academy members’ Alexis Hernandez, Jair Rodriguez and Amber Hernandez decided not to play high school soccer and continue training with their academy, their decision was received by a lot of criticism from their peers who really didn’t understand the goals set forth by the trio. Now with Alexis and Jair currently training in Mexico City with PUMAS UNAM from the Mexican First Division Soccer League and Amber training with the Mexican U17 Women National in preparation for the Women U17 World Cup in New Zealand, it sure looks like their decision is paying off big time.

For Alexis it has really paid off as Leonardo Cuellar, Mexican Women National Coach, and the PUMAS coaching staff have recommended him to participate in this month’s Mexican U17 Men’s National Team camp. This is the same national team which has produced players like Giovanni Dos Santos who plays for Barcelona alongside Ronaldinho and Carlos Vela who currently plays in Spain. Last summer while on a tour in Mexico City with South Valley Chivas, Alexis would be one of five members invited to train with development teams from America and San Luis. Eventually San Luis would offer him a 10 month contract to play for their third division team. In October, he would be invited to join the Chivas USA U17 after being selected from a Chivas USA tryout by leading scout and assistant coach for Chivas USA, Dennis Te Kloese. In November, he would be selected to the California State 92 ODP team and is scheduled to travel to Colorado for the Regional ODP competition in the Spring.

Jair on the other hand got a second opportunity to train with a professional soccer team after being invited to train with Club America last summer after our tour but was unable to stay because their dorms were filled to capacity at the time. He was invited back in December by America but he decided to concentrate on training with the academy and preparing for the trials with PUMAS.

Amber is currently training for the Mexican Women National team who will be playing against teams from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Canada and USA, during the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s U17 Championships which location and date have yet to be determined. She is scheduled to travel to Florida and Costa Rica in March for a national competition before playing in the CONCACAF tournament which will decide what three nations will represent the confederation at the Women U17 World Cup in New Zealand. During the last six months, she has been called up numerous times for week long trainings and her current call up is from Jan. 11-20.

So while their peers are thinking about playing against EYL rivals here locally, in the case of this trio, they are thinking about playing abroad against professional soccer teams and in Amber’s case against international teams.