To the Editor,
My name is Jose Herrera, a dedicated person that works in the school system and a former professional soccer player in my beloved Guatemala. The passion for the sport I grew into as a youth has carried on to my older years. Indeed, in the past four years, I’ve dedicated my free time to coach; but more importantly, to teach the basics, the skills and secrets of futbol (soccer or real foot-ball) at the AFC Rapid Soccer League in the Throg’s Neck Area in the Bronx. During these years there, I’ve met people who like the way I teach the children and have always wanted me to work with their kids. In the past two years, I’ve gathered children from different ages from 9 thru 15 years old with the abilities and skills to play the sport, formed teams and take them to tournaments in Westchester County and Queens.
We have also participated at the Underdome Sports in Mt. Vernon in the past two years where the competition is at a higher level with teams from all over westchester, Long Island and Conneticutt. I recently, had six teams (about 80 children) competing in Session 2 at the Underdome Boys U-9, U-10, U-11 and U-15 on Saturdays. And on Sundays, I had two Girls teams U-11 and U-13. I can proudly say, that 4 of the six teams had a chance to go for the championship game on Saturday March 27th (the boys) and on Sunday march 28th (the girls).
The U-11 boys beat New Rochelle 2-1closing an undefeated season, but the U-15 boys succumbed to the home team Eastern (EFC) in hard fought match 1-0.
The boys U-9 and U-10, also had tremendous season finishing in third place. On Sunday March 28th, the U-11 Girls (Quetzalitas) took on Mamaroneck Rebels and beat them 4-1. They also finished undefeated.
The U-13 Girls also played a great match for the championship, but they lost to the home team Eastern (EFC) 4-2. Overall, I consider this a great accomplishment by the kids considering that they face mostly first and second division teams from the WYSL.
Of course, this was possible because of the great parental support and the people behind the scenes that greatly contributed with their financial support like Dino Esposito (C.I. Contracting) Michael Narcisco (Dun-Rite Specialized) Gjonaj Inc., The Throgg’s Neck Clipper, Flavio Soares (Tonic Construction).
Knowing that the Bronx hardly has teams competing in soccer traveling leagues, Dino Esposito and I have taken the initiative to do that with the help of the president of the Westchester league, who allowed us to register two youth teams, to start the spring season this coming April. Unfortunately, but luckily at the same time, we will play all the games away since we do not have a home field.
The purpose of this misive is not only to inform, but let people know that we are a soccer club in the making (Quetzalitos) thirsty for playing and taking the Bronx soccer to more challenging competitions in Westchester and beyond. Obviously, we are going to need help with finding a Soccer field with the proper measurements; so it would be nice if The Bronx Daily voices this out, and helps us out.
Thanks,
Jose Herrera
Tel.: 917-751-0905
E-mail: purofrijol@aol.com
