| Story was published in the Porterville Recorder on November 21, 2013.
Sergio Reyes, 14, and Seth Gonzalez, 14, both play soccer with the South Valley Chivas boys 16 and under competitive traveling team. Both want to break into the world of professional soccer. And come Nov. 24-27, the two will get their shot to impress officials from the Mexican Soccer Federation enough to grant them a spot on the 15 and under national team while in Puebla, Mexico. |
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| Gonzalez, who plays as a left winger and central midfielder, has a couple favorite Juventus players in Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal and looks to Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta for inspiration. Reyes, however, has a common answer for his favorite players: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. And if he had a choice of which player from the Mexican national team he’d like to meet, it would be Chicarito. Gonzalez would choose Raul Jimenez.Of nearly 100 kids in the Chivas academy, these two will get a shot at being selected for the national team. It’s a precious opportunity and they’ll be facing vicious competition.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Gonzalez said. “It’s a good chance to meet my goals and dreams of being a professional soccer player,” Reyes said. This adventure will expose the two teens to several new experiences. It will be their first time to Mexico, first time in a big city, and, something most of us find normal in modern times, their first time on an airplane. Their parents, of course, are ecstatic for them and proud at the same time. “We’re grateful to the academy for giving this opportunity and providing such a great foundation,” Sergio’s father, Pedro, said. “Without the academy they wouldn’t have the chance to do this, either,” Seth’s mother, Rita Santos, said. Esmaldo Hernandez, the founder of the Chivas Academy, wanted to wish nothing but luck for the two boys, because this is what he strives for, not for numbers or trophies. “We’re proud of these guys,” he said. “There are very few kids who get the opportunity to play for the national team. They’ll be facing hungry competition, though.” If the boys’ trials are successful, officials of the Mexican Soccer Federation will then take a look at their families to see if they have Mexican citizens, because Seth and Sergio are not Mexican citizens. Members of their family do, however, so they would be allowed to join the ranks of the national team. This is a huge opportunity for two kids who have been playing soccer since they were 4-years-old. |
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