History

Our History, Who We’ve Become and Where We are Leading

The Santa Cruz County Breakers Soccer Club has been committed to youth player development since its inception. The Breakers have gained national recognition for consistently providing a professional coaching atmosphere for the elite youth soccer players in Northern California. In 2005, the Santa Cruz Breakers were nationally recognized as the # 2 elite soccer club in the United States by the Super Y League! In 2008, the Breakers Soccer Club was selected by the US Soccer Federation to be part of a new program, the US Soccer Development Academy. Players from our area that played in MLS are Zak Ibsen (LA Galaxy, San Jose Earthquakes), Francisco Gomez (Chivas USA, Kansas City), Isaiah Bardales (LA Galaxy) and David Estrada (Seattle Sounders).

Breakers Beginnings

To understand the present state of competitive soccer in Santa Cruz County, it is necessary to first understand the past. This evolution of the facts will help this generation develop a better understanding of the history of Santa Cruz County Soccer at the youth level.

1992: The creation of Santa Cruz County Youth Premier Futbol Club

The Santa Cruz County Youth Premier Futbol Club was established in 1992 because the leaders of the local youth soccer clubs felt that elite players would be better off in a single organization that would serve the needs of the players wishing to play at the highest competitive level. The challenges and intricacies of playing at the competitive level are much different than those facing players at the recreational level.

At the time, our county was comprised of five youth soccer clubs, Scotts Valley/San Lorenzo Valley, Santa Cruz City, Mid County, Aptos and Pajaro Valley, all of which were under the jurisdiction of the Santa Cruz County Youth Soccer League. Each club had the opportunity to have its Class 1, Class 3 and Recreational programs.

Everyone quickly understood that Santa Cruz County did not have the pool of players to support such a structure and compete with teams over the hill. Therefore they were all in agreement that the best solution for the county was to create another club that would focus only on competitive soccer. In 1992, the SCCYPFC (Santa Cruz County Youth Premier Futbol Club) was created under the leadership of Gary Masamori, Roland Hedgpeth, David Wright, Bill Davila, Richard Munoz, Sergio Sierra, Tom Vignola, Rich Sanders and a few others. This club became the only class 1 Elite club in Santa Cruz County.

Below are some of the reasons why SCCYPFC was created:

  • • For youth player development to come first whether it be at the recreational, competitive or select level.
  • • For Class 1 soccer to cross geographic club and cultural barriers stimulating culture and socio-economic interaction across our diverse county.
  • • To maintain Class 1 teams in a club focused on competitive player development (SCCYPFC) as opposed to returning them to the geographic clubs.
  • • To prevent the issues regarding the small percentage of select players (
  • • To limit confusion created by club-hopping coaches and people with personal agendas.

 

Early 2000

A giant step forward was made in the creation of a true Class 1 club in Santa Cruz County. Challenges to run the club were numerous and it was not easy to bring people together from different parts of the county. Club unity was lacking, as each team had its own name, uniform and colors. Each team organized its own tryouts, and usually had the same coach and group of people managing the team for many years. In a few cases, these coaches and managers stayed with their teams until the teams graduated from the program.

In 2001, the U19 team coached by Sergio Sierra and managed by Larry Biggam won the State Cup Championship. The coach, manager and players on this team represented all areas of Santa Cruz County. Ironically, this team was called SCC Breakers. Who would have known at the time that this name would eventually become the name of all Class 1 teams in Santa Cruz County? This team went on to play in a prestigious international tournament in Italy where they faced AS Roma and other top clubs in Europe. It was at this tournament where some of our local players went up against one of the future 2006 World Cup Champions, Daniele De Rossi, who was the captain of the AS Roma U19 team at the time. Some of the Breakers players who took part in that trip were Lupe Martinez, Patrick Scheufler, Matt Biggam, Kurt Munoz, Matt McClosky and others.

In the early years of the 21st century, the SCCYPFC Club leadership decided it was time to go in a new direction. The Board felt that in order to be competitive with other clubs in Northern California, the club needed to hire coaching directors that would select and supervise coaches and would develop and promote the club at a higher level. Paul Lester, the UCSC Women’s Coach, became the Girls Coaching Director and Paul Holocher who was the UCSC Men’s Coach took charge of the boys side.

Paul Lester stayed with the club for a few years before leaving for Arizona to become a fulltime coach in one of the most successful clubs in the nation, Sereno soccer club. In 2003, Paolo Carbone, co-founder of the De Anza Force, one of the top clubs in America, was hired by SCCYPFC club president, Bob Poser, to replace Paul Lester as the Girls Coaching Director.

When the club made the decision to hire two nationally recognized coaching directors, the board knew that wealth of experience and professionalism would bring the club a level of leadership and focus that had been lacking. Together, Paul and Paolo:

  • • organized and conducted a number of popular technical clinics for players and coaches
  • • arranged for a college information night for all high school aged players and their parents
  • • organized coaching licensing clinics, Positive Coaching Alliance workshops, and skill-building and team-building clinics for all club coaches
  • • maintained contacts around the country with college coaches and US Soccer personnel in order to provide ongoing exposure and opportunity for youth soccer players from Santa Cruz County
  • • advised the club on which playing leagues its teams should play in and which tournaments they should attend.

 

The SCCYPFC is the only Class 1 program in Santa Cruz County, and as such, is comprised of some of the most talented and motivated young players in the area. The club’s many accomplishments reflect that level of talent and commitment. For instance, in 2002-2003, two of its teams won the CYSA-North State Cup Championship, and two additional teams were State Cup finalists. The two championship winners went on to represent Northern California in the US Youth Soccer Association (USYSA) Far West Regional Tournament, which took place in Hawaii in the summer of 2003. Its teams were also very impressive during the 2003 fall season playing with the Abronzino league, with four teams ending the season as division champs. The club was ranked 9th out of over 100 clubs in CYSA-North. In addition, the club established a very respectable Class I tournament – The Santa Cruz Classic now known as the Breakers Cup, which has further raised its visibility among other competitive clubs. Also, the club has initiated the Positive Coaching Alliance to translate their literature into Spanish to benefit our children and families involved in Class I soccer. Bob Poser, Breakers president was one of the moving forces behind getting the PCA adopted by the SCCYSL and all local clubs.

In early 2004, two significant events happened that would unify the club and establish the brand-recognition that we enjoy today:

  • • After much deliberation, it was decided that the official name of the club would be changed to Santa Cruz County Breakers and that there would be a common logo that would reflect the new club name. The Santa Cruz County Breakers was selected as the official name for the club and Navy Blue and White were selected as club colors. In addition, a new club logo was developed to help provide club unity and identity. From that point onward, all teams from the club have gone by the same name, worn the same uniform, and had the same team colors.
  • • Thanks to Bob Poser, Matt McDowell and Tom Nieto, who went out of their way to research uniform options for the club. Together, they initiated a partnership with Adidas America and obtained significant donations to assist all Breakers teams to the new club uniforms.

In addition, the club created their first Breakers Soccer Camps for all the teams in the club, and the U18 girls team coached by Ashley Edgar and assisted by Art Romswinckel won the prestigious Santa Diego Surf Cup. Ashley’s team also qualified for three CYSA State Cup semifinals, losing only against the eventual Champions.

2005 – The Breakers Club is Ranked # 2 in the Nation

In 2005, the club earned the title of # 2 Elite soccer club for boys and girls in the Nation from the Super Y-League. The clubs rounding out the top three spots were the Chicago Magic and New York Red Bulls. 2005 was also the year when the club had three boys teams and one girls team that qualified for the Super-Y-league Nationals in Florida. Many players were also selected to participate in the Olympic Development Program (ODP), a process of identification for the US National Team. Jose Gonzales was invited for the first time to a US National training camp. Francisco Gomez and Miguel Silva were players from the county that participated with the US National Team program and Brie Wiles was the only player on the girls side invited to National training camp as well.

In 2005, Paul Holocher was hired at Cal Poly as a head men’s soccer coach to revamp their program. Paolo Carbone took over his role to become the Breakers Boys and Girls Coaching Director.

In 2006, the Breakers 88B coached by Bob Poser and Bob Evans won their fifth CYSA State Cup! At Easter time of the same year, they had the opportunity to participate in the U19 International Tournament of Bellinzona in Switzerland where they played against FC Barcelona (Spain), FC Basel (Switzerland), Aris Salonique (Greece) and Borussia Moenchenglasbach (Germany). Following their performance, some players were invited to train in Europe. Martin Monroy went to train with Borussia Moenchenglasbach in Germany for 10 days. 2006 was also the year where the Club launched the Breakers Junior Academy, a program designed to improve the individual skills of all the U10-U13 Breakers players. Breakers 88 Boys player Jose Gonzales signed a professional contract with the second division team Atlante in Mexico.

In 2007, US Soccer recognized the Santa Cruz County Breakers as one of the top clubs in the Nation and granted them the status of Academy club. The Academy was designed to create a better developmental environment for elite players, and to promote those players to the national team. The Breakers now had one U16 boys team and one U18 boys team playing in the US Soccer Development Academy under the guidance of the US Soccer Federation. In that year, the Breakers had the opportunity to play against the LA Galaxy and the Chivas USA in front of a crowd of 1,500 fans at Cabrillo College Stadium. After the weekend, US Soccer Federation scout, Hugo Perez (US National 1994 World Cup), notified the Breakers that Josue Madueno was invited to the U18 National Team Training Camp.

Throughout the years, one of the strengths of the Breakers Soccer Club is its commitment to help those players who truly deserve the opportunity to play soccer at its highest level. The club has instituted a number of financial assistance programs to ensure that deserving players who are in need are not denied the chance to participate. This club has promoted and financially supported many teams that attend regional and national tournaments and has assisted many its players in their travel to the USSF national team camps.

2010 – A New Era in Youth Soccer

A club’s strength is also its ability to put together a group of people that fundraise and look for sponsorships to help with scholarships, and its ability to continually improve the quality of its program. Over the years, many dedicated individuals have donated time, money and resources to ensure that the club can continue to develop top quality players and compete at the highest level.

A foundation of this program is the quality of its professional coaching staff. The vast majority of our head coaches have an USSF National coaching license or an NSCAA National coaching license, head coaches are non-parent coaches, and a coaching rotation has been in place for several years. Over the course of time, members of the club have indicated a preference for qualified, licensed coaches at the helm of the teams to better ensure the development of the players.

The club brand and look has also evolved thanks to its status as a Nike Premier Club.

The club effectively promotes its most talented and motivated players to universities and USSF soccer coaches both at the state and national levels. Thanks to participation in various showcase tournaments, club college nights, and other club events, players have exposure to some of the top university coaches in the nation. Since the development of the Breakers Academy, scouts now come to Santa Cruz County to look at our local talent. The Breakers Cup is now a tradition for many teams and clubs in Northern California and today it has more than 200 teams that participate.

Throughout the years, the club has successfully developed many strong players who have moved on to play at collegiate level. Some recent past players on the girls side are Lauren Curtis (UC Irvine), Lisa Lanham (Santa Clara University), Heidi Romswinckel-Guise(SJSU), Cristin Murphy (Cabrillo College/SJSU), Brittny Bishore (SJSU), Mayra Cruz (SJSU), Amanda Bruce (SFSU), Caitlin Meadows (Long Island University), Chelsea Muir (Ponoma-Pitzer College), Stephanie Dodds (West Chester University, Pennsylvania), Brieanna Wright (Santa Barbara City College), Tylinda Arthur (Cabrillo College), Lindsey Prentiss (Cabrillo College), Sarah Croskrey (St Josephs College, Rensselaer -Indiana) Ruth Hanks (Birminham Southern), Esther Neel (Cal Poly), Maria Hare (Cabrillo College/SJSU) Ashley Rodhe (Cabrillo College, CSUMB), Emmi Doniak (Cabrillo College, CSUMB), Jane Shook (USF), Paulina Gonzales (Cabrillo College), Christian Ruiz (Menlo College), Emily Belding (SJSU), ), Lauren Miller (Cal Poly), Kelsey Johnson (Cal Poly), Keiko Kurita (Vassar University), Alex Williams (Cal State LA),

On the boys side, Bernabe Camacho (San Jose State), Josh Converse (UCSD), Jeremy Del Re (Santa Clara), Diego Gonzales (Cabrillo College), Linares Walker (Dartmouth College), Ben Poser (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Alberto Mata (Cabrillo College), Manuel Leos (Cabrillo College), Collin Walsh (Brigham Young University Hawaii), Sky Cutler (SJSU), David Estrada (UCLA), Colby Moore (SJSU), Edward Murillo-Jimenez (SJSU), Tony Parenti (CalPoly), Patrick Scheufler (SJSU), Marco Del Real (Cabrillo College), Alberto Mata (Cabrillo College), Jason Kaye (UC San Diego), Kin Lam (UC Davis), Oscar Monjaras (SJSU), Gabriel Cassaro (Bethany University), Jose Tostado (Cabrillo College, Chico State), Kellen Coffis (Cabrillo College, Notre Dame De Namur University), Jonathan Christensen (Cabrillo College), Jeffery Christensen (Cabrillo College), Josue Madueno (UC Santa Barbara), Kevin Halasz (University of Puget Sounds), Andre Bernal (Humbold University), Christian Diaz (Vermont University), Anthony Gooch (San Diego State University), Benkay Kajihara (U. of San Francisco), Matt Tunzi (Oberlin College), Daniel Johnson (Westmont College), Sean Sprague (UC Santa Cruz), Keaton Sprague (Long Island University).

The last few years have seen a lot of changes in the landscape of US Soccer. Obviously, the advent of the US Soccer Development Academy is a big step in the right direction to develop players like other countries in the world have been doing for decades. On the girl’s side, the ECNL has created its “academy” even though it is not supervised by the US Soccer like for the boys Development Academy. Moreover, ODP used to be the main identification process for selecting players to the National teams. While it still exists, ODP has lost of its prestige and it is no longer the main and only means of selection for the National team. US Club Soccer has created their ID2 program and the US Soccer has developed a program called the US Training Center where players are directly trained and scouted by the US Soccer Federation Coaching Staff.

In Northern California, the landscape has changed as well. The Norcal Premier League has been growing in the last few years, while CYSA created the new Cal Soccer League to respond to the demand of the competitive clubs. Breakers have teams playing in both organizations. The older teams, (Boys and Girls U14 and up) are playing in the Regional Academy League in Norcal and the younger teams (U9 to U13) are playing in the CYSA Cal Soccer League. The Elite U16 and U18 Boys Soccer Teams are playing at the National Level in the US Soccer Development Academy.

The Breakers have also been more involved at the grassroots level with several programs such as 4v4 League, Play Days and Camps. The Breakers have been one of the leading clubs in the Northern California and have been distinguished by its professionalism on and off the field. Most of the activities of the Breakers Soccer club take place at Cabrillo College in Aptos in the heart of Santa Cruz County.

On the verge of its 20th anniversary, the Santa Cruz County Breakers has established itself as a leading soccer club in the nation. It is with enthusiasm and excitement that the club continues to guide and develop all of its players to reach their potential in this new, continually changing soccer landscape.

“We don’t demand that the youth teams win, we demand that they play good soccer”

Jose Ramon Alexanco
FC Barcelona (Spain) Youth Director