September 5, 2008

Evergreen soccer player chosen for national team

By Jeremy Barousse
Special to the Times

On the soccer field, Evergreen resident Emilio Huerta is known as a leader. His personal experience and knowledge of the game helps him direct his teammates and lead his team.

Those same qualities convinced coaches from the country’s Olympic Development Program in Boston to invite Huerta to play with the Men’s Under 14 U.S. National Team in November.

Huerta, 12, and his family received word that he was one of 36 youths selected from a national pool of 250 of the best players aged 14 and under. “I was really excited to get that letter,” Huerta said. “After all the steps I took, and I tried my best. It all paid off.”

Emilio Huerta

And paid off it did.

Huerta put dozens of hours into a rigorous training routine that helped get him to Boston for the national team tryout. He spent some time practicing with older club team players and running up Montgomery Hill in Evergreen on a constant basis. He and his family loosely refer to the training as “boot camp.”

“I had to work a little bit harder,” said Huerta. To get to the national level, the defenseman had to climb the different levels of competition. He was first invited to represent his state, playing for California’s Northern California youth team, where he was the team’s captain. After impressing coaches and scouts at the state level, he was invited to Oregon to try out for the U.S. regional team, a squad made up of the best soccer players from nine states on the west coast.

His parents Concepcion and Michelle couldn’t be any more proud of him and all of the hard work that he has been putting into his goal of playing soccer at a national level.

“We are very proud of him,” Concepcion said. “It took a year for him to get to this level and to get committed to his goal. It’s been a desire and passion for him since he was really young. He’s only 12 years old and he’s already accomplished a lot in a short period of time.”

Huerta started playing soccer right here in Evergreen when he was five as a young member of the Mount Hamilton league. There he was the league’s MVP for two years, according to his father. He also spent several years playing for his club team, the De Anza Force in Cupertino, where he led his team as a top-scoring forward and midfielder.

And despite achieving success on the soccer field, his mother Michelle, a life-long Evergreen resident, said that he is taking all of the success in stride. “He’s a trooper,” Michelle said. “He is very humble about the whole thing. We’re very excited and proud, and it’s just the beginning. We are looking forward to that next step in his success.”

Though Huerta might be a star on the field, the game of soccer doesn’t totally control his life. Off the field, he likes to do things that any normal 12-year-old likes to do. He writes music and plays video games with friends. He also serves as a bible school leader at Saint Victor’s parish and has a 3.3 GPA at St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Mountain View where he just started the eighth grade.

The next stop in Huerta’s successful journey will take him to Orlando, Florida where he will compete with 35 other youths in the International Regional Classic in November at the Disney Wide World Sports Complex. The developmental program will then choose its final 18 players whom will represent the United States in its first international meet in Guadalajara, Mexico.

“This is a very important age group,” Concepcion said. “Because this group will eventually be all together to form the 17-18 age group to go to the Olympics in a few years. The program already told us to start ordering our passports for Guadalajara.”

For the young Huerta, who dreams one day to play soccer at the professional level, he is planning to take one step at a time and learn from the lessons he has received from success. “Always try your best and set goals,” said Huerta. “Take it one step at a time. If you do, it will all pay off.”