A World Cup of their Own

Local Kids Headed to Spain For International Soccer Tournament

By Jon Chown

With soccer teams from all over the world facing off in the World Cup in Brazil, a local youth soccer team is going to Spain on July 4 for their own international experience with “the beautiful game.”

Some members of the Scotts Valley/San Lorenzo Valley Thunder have been playing together for nearly as long as they can remember. Coached by Victor Martinez, of Santa Cruz, the under-17 team is made up mostly of athletes from Scotts Valley High and San Lorenzo Valley High.

“They are incredibly hard working,” Martinez said. ““They have a great chemistry; they’ve really bonded with each other.”

The Thunder will be competing in the Donosti Cup in San Sebastian from July 4-13. Martinez said the team, which recently finished second in the California Youth Soccer Association’s Gold Division with a record of 27-6-9, needed something to look forward to and a new challenge. He said he’d like the team to be able to reach the Premiere Division so that the team can enter larger tournaments and the boys can be seen by college recruiters.

After doing some research, it was decided that a tournament in Spain would be a great way to fire the team up and give the boys some great experience. The team follows the Spanish philosophy of soccer, a lot of passing and ball control.

“It’s a great fit for us. We are a passing attack team. It’s a system how we move the ball around,” he said.

Some members of the team have been together since early childhood. Mitchell Kamau joined the team when he was 6 and is now a junior at San Lorenzo Valley High.

“Some of us have been together for nine years,” he said.

The boys are extremely excited as the date approaches, and watching the U.S. Men’s National team advance in Brazil to the round of 16 has only heightened their anticipation. Mitchell and most of the team were at teammate Eric Beraut’s house during Team USA’s tie with Portugal early in the tourney.

“We were all together,” said Cole North, a junior who also plays soccer for Scotts Valley High. “We were pumped and then in the last 15 seconds it was super quiet. It was so sad.”

The boys are also disappointed that Spain took an early exit from the World Cup.

“We were excited to be in a country that’s super into soccer for the World Cup, but then Spain lost. Luckily we’re stopping off in France, so now we’re all France fans,” North said.

Beraut, also a junior at Scotts Valley High, said it’ll be a great opportunity for he and his teammates.

“There’s going to be 23 different countries represented in the tournament. It will be a great opportunity for us to put our style up against other team’s styles, especially right now, when we’re watching all these different countries playing with different styles,” Beraut said.