Uphill battle

Bryce Alderton

Grab the shinguards, along with the cleats and water bottle. Soccer

beckons.

Begging to catch on the United States, here in Newport-Mesa, the

game commonly referred to as “futbol” in the rest of the world has

grown in numbers and interest, according to area coaches and

commissioners.

The added amount of players brings along more coaches trying to

capitalize on that talent.

Some coaches want to jump-start their own club teams, while

established groups continue to flourish in the Newport-Mesa area.

Walid Khoury and brother Ziad act as the directors of coaching for

the boys and girls age-specific club teams with the Slammers Futbol

Club, based in Newport Beach. Slammers’ teams have won 11 State Cup

titles the past four years, including the girls under-18 squad that

claimed its third cup championship last month.

Beginning Sunday, four Slammers teams will compete in the Far West

regionals in Honolulu.

Walid coaches girls under-10, under-13, under-15 and the under-18

with club president Terry Mazura. The under-13 and under-18 teams

each will compete in the regionals. The girls under-18 team was the

first team formed in 1996 and has compiled a 253-59-49 record.

The Khourys, along with others, have developed the Slammers into

one of the nation’s premier club soccer programs. They like to train

players from this area, but realize that to have a successful club

requires reaching their feelers to other parts of Southern

California.

“We love players from this area, that is what we are built

around,” Walid said. “But the bottom line is that to maintain the

highest level of play, you can’t have all 18 players from one area.”

Former Corona del Mar High girls soccer players such as Paige

Janes, Lauren Shepherdson and Alivia Mazura are members of the

Slammers’ girls under-18 team, which has 11 players planning on

attending Division I colleges.

Mazura, like many players, began competing in AYSO, but, in order

to take her game to the next level, she had to move on to club, where

more intense technical training is offered.

“These are paid professionals whose full-time job is training

these kids,” said Mazura’s father, Terry. “AYSO has many purposes to

introduce kids to the game, teaching them the basics. Club soccer

then picks up where AYSO leaves off. Those who want to play soccer in

college, need to be in an elite program. It is very competitive.”

The stakes are quite different in AYSO, where children are

guaranteed to play at least half the game. By contrast, club coaches

will keep the best players on the field for as long as possible.

In order to keep players in the program, 10 years ago AYSO began a

club circuit known as “APP progressive” and now features year-round

soccer options such as the spring select season.

Rarely will a player compete in both AYSO and on a club team.

“It is a small percentage, maybe about 1% or 2%,” Chris Sarris,

president of AYSO Region 97, said.

Sarris has noticed a surge in soccer players making their way to

area fields, where it becomes ever more difficult to find a place to

play.

“Soccer is growing everywhere,” he said. “Last fall we had 1,700

players and we are already taking signups for next year.

“We use any school we can get,” Sarris said when asked about field

availability. “Costa Mesa is 98-99% built out and Newport Beach is

the same way. The biggest problem is there are no lights, so when

October comes and it gets dark earlier, what do you do? These

organizations have so many teams that want to use the fields that it

becomes crazy trying to schedule anything.”

Such teams as the Slammers and Irvine Strikers pull from many

areas, which must be done, according to Terry.

“A strictly Newport Beach or Costa Mesa club can’t survive by only

taking its players from that specific city,” he said. “There simply

is not enough players from a small town like Newport Beach.”

Which beckons anyone wishing to start up a club team to look

outside of the city limits, even Mohammad Khakpour.

The Iran native and Newport Beach resident is trying to fill five

boys and girls club teams to compete in the highly-competitive Coast

Soccer League beginning next fall. As of Saturday, Khakpour, who won

a gold medal with the Iranian national soccer team in the 1998 Asian

Olympics, had three teams, each with 12 players. The two other teams

he hopes to fill still have vacancies.

Khakpour does not recruit, preferring instead to pass club

information by word of mouth.

“I will not recruit from other clubs to bring kids into this club,

my concern is for the local kids,” Khakpour said. “If anyone has

potential and wants to work hard, I will make them a better soccer

player.”

With the wealth of clubs, players must make a choice of which club

or organization to attend, Sarris said.

“What is [Khakpour] doing that no one else is doing?” he asked.

Khakpour stresses that he focuses on teaching students the

fundamentals, molding them into polished players.

Khoury and Sarris said that already occurs with any club team,

with AYSO even getting in on added instruction.

In 2000, AYSO approved the formation of the Pacific Soccer Club, a

program for players of various skill levels. The goal organizers had

was to increase the retention of AYSO players who wanted to compete

at a more-skilled level. In contrast to other club teams, “everyone

plays” in AYSO.

“We even offer a VIP program for handicapped kids,” Sarris said.

“We tend to be a community-based club team.”

Walid Khoury echoed Sarris’ thoughts about Khakpour’s apparent

struggle to field a team.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Khakpour’s club practices at area

elementary schools such as Kaiser and Davis, while Sundays are

reserved for a clinic at Mariners Park. When the season begins in

September, Khakpour’s teams will play home games at Sage Hill School.

“[Khakpour] is one of many professional players trying to coach in

this league,” said Walid, the former CdM girls soccer coach and a

player himself at Newport Harbor and Orange Coast College. “[Coast

Soccer League] is the best the nation has to offer. It is very hard

to establish yourself in this league. You see clubs popping up left

and right and then they disappear.”