Maturing on the field
Soccer offers life lessons for youth players
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — They may be only 15, but Ian Topete and Tadeo Montejano have had plenty of moments of glory on the soccer field.
After all, the two Yuma-area youth were accepted into the Tuzos Pachuca Soccer Club, a highly competitive youth soccer organization in Phoenix that, among other things, grooms future players for Mexico’s Club Pachuca professional team.
But last month, they got a chance to see just how well their skills and determinations matched up against some of Mexico’s best young players.
Topete, a student at San Luis High School, and Montejano, who attends Cibola High School, were part of an Arizona youth team that took on an all-star 15 and under players from Mexico in an amateur game on Oct. 22 in Tucson.
“To play against the (Mexican all-stars) was like a reward that God gave me for the effort I have put in soccer,” Topete said. “Even though it was just a friendly game, it was the best experience I have had. I never would have imagined it.”
The Arizona team lost, 1-0, but no matter, Montejano said. “It was a very good experience to see what level I’m at. I know
that I have to push myself more and work harder, but I felt very good,” he said.
“They are practically professionals,” Montejano added, referring to the Mexican team. “But I believe in spite of that, we played at their level.”
Topete and Montejano began playing soccer together at age 9, when both played in in the Torneo de los Barrios soccer tournament in Mexicali, Baja Calif. Since then, they’ve competed on both sides of the border, in city leagues in San Luis Rio Colorado, Son., and in youth leagues in Yuma.
Having joined the Tuzos Pachuca club earlier this year, they have juggled their school studies with soccer training during the week, leaving on the weekends to play in club games in Phoenix.
Later this month, Topete and Montejano will be part of the Tuzos Pachuca team that competes against teams from Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah in the U.S. Youth Soccer Far West regional tournament in Honolulu. They hope to qualify for the national finals that takes place in December.
Both players hoping their efforts on the soccer field will lead to college scholarships and, ultimately, to the chance to play professionally. Topete’s father, Juan Carlos Topete, believes they’ll achieve their goals.
“We have always told them that their time will come, and I believe that it’s now close at hand,” he said. “What they are doing demands sacrifice, and it demands sacrifice from those of us who support them as parents. But they have decided to do it, they has said, ‘This is what I want and I am going to dedicate myself to this 100 percent.’”
That’s not to say the parents aren’t enjoying some rewards of their own, Juan Carlos Topete said. “We are seeing how they are evolving as people and as players,” the father said. “They are growing up as good people and as friends, and through soccer they are making many friendships in different places.”
He added: “You don’t support them so that they’ll become professional soccer players and become famous. If that happens that’s good, but what is important is that they grow up as good, well-disciplined individuals.”