Photo By Kristen Wong | Luis Zamora (left), co-founder of the Armed Forces Hawaii Futbol Club, fights for...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII - Long after the sun clocked out for
the day, Pop Warner Field was awash in stadium lights as Marine Corps Base Hawaii personnel competed in a scrimmage with the Armed Forces Hawaii Fútbol Club, Aug. 1, 2014.
Service members from last year’s base intramural soccer teams quickly put a team together to go head-to-head with the newly-formed club.
Though not an official game, the club took the scrimmage seriously,
arriving in matching shirts, practicing quick drills and warming up in a circle.
As a light rain sprinkled on the field, an animated Jay Reynard followed his players downfield, screaming encouragement and direction.
“TURN AND BURN!” called the club’s interim coach, encouraging his
players to take off as fast as possible. As the game progressed, he lined up new players and made switches as necessary.
“After we settled down and spread the field we started getting comfortable,” Reynard said. “(The game) plan was coming into place. The goals just started coming to us.”
Reynard said the team does need to work on faster passing.
Players would call “Time, time, you’ve got time,” keeping their
teammates from rushing or panicking as they gained possession of the ball. In the end, the club emerged victorious against MCB Hawaii, 6-1.
“It was fast-paced,” said Alex Ramirez, a Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 24 supply clerk, who played on the base team. “It was a great experience.”
Carlos Cruz-Tejeda, an administrative clerk with Headquarters Battalion, and player for the base team, said he looked forward to playing against the club again.
“(The club) gave me (a) sensation (that) I could be part of the team,”
Cruz-Tejeda said. “How they played is how I would have played.”
The Armed Forces Hawaii FC was founded approximately three
weeks ago by Luis Zamora, an electrician’s mate from USS Chafee
and Reynard, an information systems technician, with Naval Computer
and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific.The sailors held tryouts for the club, to which more than 100 service members tried out, but only a little more than 20 were chosen for the upcoming competition.
Though still in its infancy, the club is practicing as much as possible before heading to San Antonio for the Defenders Cup, hosted by the U.S. Air Force, Aug. 29 through Sept. 1.
“We’re coming together,” Zamora said. “(We’ve) still got a lot to do before the tournament.”
Zamora, of Boca Raton, Fla., said the club needs to work on touches and “1-2” passes.
Service members from various commands make up the club, like
Augusto Ramirez, a Marine and a team leader at the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command.
Ramirez, currently on temporary additional duty, has been playing soccer regularly since 1999.
“It’s a language you can speak basically with anybody,” Ramirez said.
“(Soccer is) fun ... it gets you in shape ... you get to know (who) you’re playing with and you become kind of like one, you become a team once you start playing.”
After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and
played frequently at his first duty station in Okinawa, Japan.
“(In Okinawa), pretty much every weekend there was some kind of
tournament going on,” he said.
The native of Kearny, N.J., was leaving work late in the evening when
he saw members practicing drills on the field outside his office. After inquiring with the players, Ramirez tried out and joined the club.
“I think the effort is there,” Ramirez said of the club. “The focus is definitely there and we have the right direction. The experience that I’ve had with teams is we get together and we go straight into scrimmaging. This team is different. This team is actually focused (and conducts) practice drills. (We) separate each other into specific positions and it makes us start getting to know each other so that when we play as a team (and) we know how each of us play. I think we’ll do pretty good at the cup. We’ve got the talent. (However) individual talent is not going to win this, it’s (a) team effort.”
Michael Farbridge-Currie, a center defender for the club, is a fire controlman with the USS Paul Hamilton, and has played soccer for years. He likes the fact that soccer involves teamwork and there is always constant movement in play. He joined the club after hearing about it through a friend.
“We’re all getting to know each other right now,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be ready for the tournament.”
So far, Farbridge-Currie said his teammates are getting along, and
although they need to communicate with each other more on the field, they are moving the ball efficiently.
“I think it’s going well,” said Nicholas Cardenas, a language analyst with 324th Intelligence Squadron and center midfielder. “(We need just) a little more time to work out the roster.”
Cardenas, of Porterville, Calif., has been playing soccer since he was 4 years old, and tried out for the club after hearing about it from another player.
“I love having the ball at my feet,” he said.
Cardenas commented that playing with the club is much more advanced
than playing on intramural teams at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
“We’ve got a talented squad out here,” he said. “It’s fun to (play) at a
high level. It’s a different game out here.”
Reynard said the club hopes to have three more scrimmages before they head for San Antonio.
After the Defenders Cup, Zamora said the club plans to register for the
Robledo Cup in Waipio. He added he was grateful to the service members from the MCB Hawaii soccer intramural teams for helping to coordinate the scrimmage.
For more information about the club, email armedforceshawaiifc@gmail.com.
| Date Taken: | 08.08.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 08.11.2014 22:13 |
| Story ID: | 139037 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII , HI, US |
| Hometown: | BOCA RATON, FL, US |
| Hometown: | KEARNY, NJ, US |
| Hometown: | PORTERVILLE, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 201 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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