Melina Lopez: All right, so this past summer I went to Tanzania with some of my fellow University Students at Stanford… and also some students from UCLA and the University of Washington. We worked with an NGO called “Support for International Change” and the motive of this NGO is basically to provide HIV/AIDS Education in rural villages in hopes that they can act as peer educators in their own communities to help stop the spread of HIV and AIDS. The great thing about this organization is that we had time to carry outside projects. So my side project was to start the first girls soccer team. And through a lot of hard work, and I’m not going to lie – it was very difficult in the beginning, we were able to come through and actually form a team. We showcased them at the end of our trip and it was a really great experience.

Melina Lopez With Her Girls Soccer Team in Manyara, Tanzania

SurfCup.com: That’s cool. So you went with this NGO thing, what are you studying? What would make you want to go and do something like that?

Melina Lopez: Exactly… I’m studying Human Biology right now, which is a very holistic view of biology basically. It’s both the social factors that influence our health as well as the, like, scientific-nitty-gritty factors. Currently I’m pre-med but I’m also just interested in global health and that’s kind of what drove me to want to go to Tanzania this summer.

SurfCup.com: Cool. So helping them start a women’s soccer program there, I would imagine, that ties right in with fitness and health.

Melina Lopez: Exactly! One of the main things too, I had gone over there with the intention that I wanted to do this, just kind of as a fun extra-curricular past-time for them, but I realized that it had SO much more value. It made such a big impact. When we were in the schools one of the things we realized was that mainly the teachers would call on the male students. And if they ever did call on a female student, she would have her shoulders hunched over and she’d be looking down at the ground… this mode of using soccer to give confidence to the girls worked out very, very well! Because you know, it’s frustrating. I remember being very frustrated trying a sport for the first time. But once you get through it and you realize that you can persevere and excel at something? Well then you can you use that in other areas of your life.

SurfCup.com: Right.

Melina Lopez: So that was really, really rewarding. Hearing the girls on the last day, not only introduce themselves over the microphone, but also talk about what they wanted to do when they grew up while also believing that they could do it? That was very, very rewarding!

SurfCup.com: That’s cool! And you were in the village of Manyara?

Melina Lopez: Yes!

SurfCup.com: How big a village is that?

Melina Lopez: We had, I want to say like, 1500 people? So, yeah, it was very small.

SurfCup.com: Quite a bit smaller than San Diego, right?

Melina Lopez: Quite a bit smaller! Exactly! All of our transportation was done by walking! Sometimes you could get a Piki Piki or a motorcycle, if you were lucky. If you were a “high roller.” But everything was done walking. When the girls did play their big tournament in another village we had to walk for two hours before they played. And you can imagine, they were very tired by the time we just got there.

SurfCup.com: So it’s a very different life that they’ve got there.

Melina Lopez: Very different. But also it’s the kind of lifestyle where everyone is very, very close and very warm and accepting. It wasn’t just the team that went… there were tons of parents… of relatives… that walked with us for that distance and came to support them.

SurfCup.com: And how did you find the reception of starting a girls team?

Melina Lopez: That was one of the frustrating things for me. During one of our first practices, one of these girls who had never played soccer before in her life. She was trying to kick a ball for the first time, and there were all these community members that were watching us kind of like, “Oh, what is this? Who is this foreigner and what is she doing with these girls? What does she think she’s doing?” And yeah, they were not very skilled! The balls were going all over the place and the people who were watching us were laughing and pointing their fingers and I got really discouraged after that first day and I was thinking like, “Wow, what do I think I’m doing? This one person here?” Also, the other thing is that I didn’t have a translator with me at that point. So I changed things after that. I was like, “Ok you can change this. It’s going to be hard. You need a translator who can translate Swahili and can help you teach them. And also, you need to just not worry about what other people are saying or thinking. Because, if you show you have a lack of confidence then that’s going to just permeate to the girls themselves. And if you show that you don’t care? Then hopefully they will wear that same sort of attitude.” So in the beginning people sort of scoffed and laughed, but we actually ended up playing the boys team and the first time they beat us… but the second time we tied. So it was really fun. And then after that the boys came up to me and they were like, “Oh we want to do this again! Can we play against the girls again? This was really fun!” And I’d see them playing with each other on occasion too. It was good. I could see a lot happening after that.

SurfCup.com: How old were the girls you were working with?

Melina Lopez: That was another interesting thing. It was a very wide age range. In primary school a lot of time you will have girls that are pulled out for a certain time. And then they are put back in school when they are 13 and they are in second grade, basically. So it was a very wide range. I want to say 8-14. So all different sizes of players too. And everyone wanted to play! So we had to deal with that everyday too. We always had someone new at practice. So you kind of have to develop drills that would work with people at a beginning level and who were at an intermediate and advanced… so it’s kind of like impromptu… you are always thinking on your feet, “what can I do for this girl?”

SurfCup.com: That must have been fun though.

Melina Lopez: It was really fun! And I’m very fortunate for one of the teaching partners who translated for me. His name is Idd. And also another teaching partner, Nackiganda, they basically are University students who were part of our core teaching team. And they translated for me for soccer. And they helped play with the kids as well. They really helped to keep me going. I was really grateful for them.

SurfCup.com: Well that’s great. Now… before you left you reached out to the Surf Cup Foundation for some assistance? What all did we do for you?

Melina Lopez: I am so incredibly grateful! Basically I emailed Scott Fontaine, and Scott Fontaine put me in touch with Mike Connerley. And I was able to receive brand new Surf Cup wear, which was amazing! I had this bag, basically like an 80lb. bag of donations from Surf Cup. Some of the jackets, some shorts, some shirts, some soccer balls and I used that as motivation for the girls. I didn’t give it to them in the beginning. I told them, “At the end! If you stick with me through this program and if you stay true to yourself… you know let yourself stick through the rough patches… then I have gifts for you!” So at the very end, literally the day before I left, I gave them all the jackets and that meant the world to them! They didn’t cry after I left because they were so happy about getting the gifts! Which is kind of funny. I’m like, “I don’t get a sentimental good bye!” But they were just overwhelmed!

SurfCup.com: I saw the photo! You with the girls all wearing the jackets. They looked like they were super excited.

Melina Lopez: Yeah! They were so excited, ‘cause they earned those! They worked really hard for them. I told them, “That’s yours. That something that you own.” That meant the world… and you know, you can be there working and playing really hard and give them verbal compliments but it’s also nice to have something tangible, you know? That definitely made the world of difference for them to own their own piece of soccer clothing!

The Girls Love Their New Jackets!

SurfCup.com: I believe your letter to the Foundation said that they were using them as, kind of, their uniform?

Melina Lopez: Exactly! When I gave them the jackets, it was nice that I got so many donations from Surf Cup! I was able to give some clothing to the girls permanently… and some of them to the school. So the school is able to use some of the things as, you know, uniforms. And then the girls were able to get their own actual piece of clothing too.

SurfCup.com: Well that’s fantastic! So you are still in contact and keeping track of what’s going on?

Melina Lopez: Yeah! It is really hard to stay in touch! Even when I was over there my sister was trying to send me postcards and I never got them. And also internet access. None of them have internet access unless they go into one of the main villages which are like, if you drive? Maybe a two hour drive. If you walk it would be… Phew! I wouldn’t even know how long that walk would be. But it would be a very long way away. So it’s difficult. I was able to receive one letter. But that’s one of the things that I guess… that’s the only thing that really frustrates me with the project… it’s not knowing if it’s continuing? Not being able to have touch with what’s going on now? And not knowing if it’s sustainable? So actually this summer I am trying to go back and work with an organization that could do things on a larger scale so that it’s not just one village that you touch, but tons of villages. And villages that are able to carry this program out. Cause, in the end, I don’t know if maybe at the end of the day some of the boys took the jackets from the girls. Or maybe their families took it and sold the stuff for money? I was able to see results while I was there but, I’d like to know that it’s continuing to work well.

SurfCup.com: Well hopefully the seeds that you were planting are the sorts of things that will help build confidence and allow the women in that culture to grow and gain some self-confidence and attain something more for themselves than maybe they thought before.

Melina Lopez: Exactly! Exactly! That mentality is the biggest gift that you can give, I think. Just helping to create a more positive attitude that they can hopefully share with their sibling too.

The Surf Cup gear is a big hit with the girls in Manyara.

SurfCup.com: Well you definitely have to let us know if you are heading back! And we will definitely follow you with great interest and see how the program is going. And thank you very much for sitting down and talking to us and telling us what you did. I think it’s fantastic that you are out there trying to do some good in the world. I applaud everybody who’s out there trying to do that.

Melina Lopez: Thank you and thank you to Surf (Cup) again! It wouldn’t have been possible to have as much of an impact without the donations too. I really appreciate it and it was a great experience and I hope to go back this summer!

SurfCup.com: Excellent, well you let us know!

Melina Lopez: Thank you!

Mimi's Thank You Letter To Mike Connerley

Boys & Girls
U-16, U-17, U-18
July 28, 29, 30, 2012
U-10 thru U-15
August 4, 5, 6, 2012

Application process begins January 2012.

Of special note, this will be the first year to see the Older age groups play in the first weekend of the tournament. Surf Cup President, Mike Connerley explains, “After receiving many requests from College Coaches throughout the country, we have switched the weekends for the 2012 Surf Cup.  I have been told by the Colleges that the NCAA has decided to start the college conference games a week earlier in 2012 and they did not want to miss coming to the Surf Cup.”

The San Diego Surf Cup is one of the premier college showcase events in the summer, hosting nearly 400 college coaches and scouts.

Surf Cup PR Director, David S. Dawson said, “Surf Cup takes the college exposure players get at our tournaments very seriously. Helping players gain college exposure is a primary focus of the events both in summer and Thanksgiving. We will always make decisions that will benefit both the players and the colleges in that endeavor. In this case, changing our long standing format of youngers then olders weekends only made sense. The key now is making sure everyone, especially those who have come to Surf Cup before, is made aware of the change when planning their summer and applying for the Cup.”

In the second of our Club Spotlight Series, SurfCup.com’s webmaster, David Dawson sat down with the Crossfire Premier’s Director of Coaching, Bernie James. Bernie discusses with us a little of the history of the club and how he came to the DOC position. He also speaks to how the Crossfire Premier has become such a respected club in the country and how their program helps players succeed well into a player’s college years.

Crossfire's Spring Academy

The Crossfire Premier are an elite club out of Washington state who have built a very successful program that puts an emphasis on technical and tactical training, skill development, competitive team play, and providing highly skilled and capable players with an opportunity to further excel in the sport.

In 2010, the Crossfire were ranked in the Top 30 elite clubs in both Boys and Girls. As one of only nine clubs in the country to boast this distinction the Crossfire are definitively achieving their stated goal: to be recognized as a consistently successful Premier Soccer Club within Washington State, within our region, and throughout the United States.

The Crossfire are a regular fixture at the Surf Cup tournaments. Here’s Surf Cup’s chat with Bernie James:

Download Audio: Closed Format: MP3

Bernie James: Well I actually played for a version of this club when I was a youth player.

Surf Cup: Awesome, what was it called back then?

Bernie James: It was called Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association. And it was… they didn’t really have premier then. We were called the Lake Washington Wolves. And we played at the same facilities that we practice at now. And the Crossfire came out of that… became the Premier arm of that organization, and so it’s changed over the past 30 or 40 years in the way it looks. But Crossfire is just part of Lake Washington which ran those teams back then.

Surf Cup: Gotcha. And when did you come to be a coach at the club?

Bernie James: I played professionally from 1977 to 2002 and then started coaching here at Crossfire when I stopped playing soccer.

Surf Cup: And you’re the Director of Coaching now, did you come in as the Director of Coaching or did you…

Bernie James: No I came in just as a coach, and worked for my ex-professional head coach, Alan Hinton. He was the Director. And then when he resigned, they actually asked me to stay on as the Coaching Director, and I said yes. I’ve probably been Coaching Director for seven or eight years.

Surf Cup: Ok. As the Director of Coaching what is your strategy on keeping the club competitive? Is there a style of play that you try to institute across the board? Or do the coaches have the freedom to…

Bernie James: Well the coaches we hire, we believe, are quality coaches and we let them kind of decide the direction their team wants to go in within some basic guidelines – tournaments you have to enter, times of week you have to practice, that sort of stuff – but I don’t go around telling them that they have to play a 4-4-2. So we really let them choose. We have 16 ex-professional players as coaches. And in our club, in the last three or four years we’ve had five Professional Head Coaches coaching in our club so, I don’t go around telling them what to do. We have coaches meetings and we work together and I think everyone agrees we want to play attractive soccer.

Surf Cup: And what do you believe is attractive soccer?

Bernie James: Well, trying to keep the ball on the ground as much as we can and trying to play combinations. Not just booting it long all the time in the way that we try to play. Yeah, I guess that depends… everyone has a different idea of what attractive soccer is. But keeping it in possession and being sharp and keeping it on the ground, you know.

Surf Cup: Okay, perfect. How important is tournament play to your club and, why being up in Washington would you be motivated to come all the way down to an event like Surf Cup?

Bernie James: Well I’ll be honest with ya, in our club we have an expectation sheet that the parents fill out. And all of our 18′s need to apply to Surf Cup because we think, the soccer in Southern California generally is at a higher level than in Washington. And if not there are certainly teams that are at a higher level, and we come down with our teams to see just where we are at in soccer in this country. It’s a great gauge for us. And I’ve been coming down there for ten or twelve years, every year. And the kids love it, the parents love it and it’s just a great gauge for where we are at and to get ready for our season.

Surf Cup: Do your players find the exposure they get to college coaches at Surf Cup helpful?

Bernie James: Oh yes, in the older age groups? Absolutely, there are a lot of college coaches there. I think it’s great, and a lot of them have been seen there. I would say, probably, quite a few of them have got and gone on to play for college teams while they’ve been seen there. I think it’s important.

Surf Cup: I was perusing your club’s website and your club has a lot of successful alumni. Is there any particular ones you want to single out and talk about a little bit?

Kelyn Rowe at UCLA

Bernie James: Well we have Kelyn Rowe (UCLA) who was the leading scorer for UCLA last year and is predicted to be in the top two or three draft picks for MLS and he’s had offers from clubs in Europe. He played for us for eight years and he’s been doing really well. And we have Preston Zimmerman who played for me who’s signed with Hamburger and still playing in Germany. And there’s Ellis McLoughlin – who was in a final at your Surf Cup, but lost in overtime – and he’s signed with San Jose Earthquakes. We’ve just had a lot of quality players who come down here and all of them that I’ve mentioned played in Surf Cup!

Surf Cup: Right. A lot of big players come through our tournament. A lot of big players have come through our tournament and never won it too.

Bernie James: In all my years there we’ve won once, and we’ve been in the final and lost once. It’s a tough tournament to win!

Surf Cup: How do you feel Crossfire helps these players get to that level of success when they leave your club? Obviously you’re teaching them soccer – are you working on also helping them get into colleges – are you helping them prepare for the general game afterwards?

Bernie James: Yeah! We have a full time college counselor type guy who has a free visit with their families and tries to help them with their college search. When they’re playing in college we have a PDL team that they can come back and play for while they’re in college. So we offer a lot of good stuff for them. We have the Academy team, ECNL and we are very ambitious, we want to be one of the best clubs in the country – so we are in every possible league we can be in, and we try to do whatever we can. I mean really – it sounds really ridiculous – but it really is about the kids for us. I mean none of us make a lot of money here. We just want to build a great club and give the kids a great opportunity. So going to Surf Cup is part of that. I think all of our 18′s love going to Surf Cup. Like I said, I’ve been there twelve years in a row. My son went – he’s playing at the University of Washington now as a senior – went every single year from 11 – 18. And that’s the team that won it once. My son’s team won it once.

Surf Cup: That’s fantastic! You know, Soccer America named you guys as one of nine clubs in their Top 30 that have both boys and girls programs ranked in 2010. Do you think that’s going to be a consistent result for you in 2011?

Bernie James: Our club is striving to be one of the top clubs in the country – on and off the field – so, you know, sometimes the results aren’t where we want them to be. And we might not be ranked as high as we’d want to be sometimes. But we are in a small state. I think our state has only five million people. So we’re not really – considering our size we are a hotbed of soccer – but compared to Southern Cal and some of these places it’s probably not realistic but I think we do a good job. And I’m happy with our rankings. We really want to be the #1 club in America but not just on the field – off the field! We want to offer all kinds of programs for our kids. We want to help them find a place in college or professional sports. Some years we do better on the field than others but, I think consistently we deliver a high-level of service for these guys. Our tournament’s gotten better every year, we have an auction, I think we are one of two Academy clubs that is funded that’s not a professional team. And we are along with the Sounders and now maybe the Whitecaps, the team out of the 84 that travel the most. So we have the most expensive program for the Academy and yet we are free and fully funded for, and being a non-professional team, it costs us a fortune. So we do a ton of fundraising. And we really are about the kids, so our ranking in Soccer America is great but we are really in it to put together a great product for everyone.

Surf Cup: And to that point I saw a recent announcement about a recent partnership between NIKE and Inter and yourselves. Anything you can say about that?

Bernie James: Well we’ve been with them about a year now. I started about six years ago with this European idea with NIKE about trying to get an affiliate club over there. We went to about four or five different clubs and with Inter they seemed really sincere. They’ve been over here three times in the last year. Over there we sent our U-16 Academy team over there. And it’s just been unbelievable so far. I really can’t say anything negative about it. It’s worked wonderfully and we are happy to be partners with them. It gives our kids something to shoot for. Not many of them will play for Inter, but one day one of them might and I think it’s just great for everyone. It’s a real relationship, we don’t send them money to use their name. We are partners in travel, and partners in sending kids over and we work with them and I think it’s been really really good.

The only thing I’d like to add is honestly that I think Surf Cup is the top tournament in the country. It is our pleasure to be invited and be accepted every year. I think we had twelve teams last year and we’ll certainly be in the nine to twelve teams range this year again. And we love coming there.

Surf Cup: And we love having ya.

Thank you very much to Bernie James for taking the time out of his busy schedule to sit down with us and talking about the Crossfire Premier.