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Houston Kick-Off Soccer Magazine

May - 2009 Page 6

Greg Gutierrez, Talent For Export?

Written By Julian Marino

At the end of March of this year, in Dallas, the first tryouts were held for the under 13 team of MASA (Mexican American Sports Association). MASA is a non-profit association of Mexican-American leaders, sports clubs and players from each of the Mexican consular cities in the United States. This team will travel as Mexico/USA to the Mexican Olympics to take place in Sinaloa, Mexico in June.

This will be the first time that the executive committee of that event accepts a team made up of Mexian American residents of the United States.

One of the players selected by the coaching staff of the team is Greg Gutierrez, who plays for the Dallas Texans Houston and is a member of the Houston Dynamo MLS (Major League Soccer) Academy. James Clarkson, director of the Academy sees a great future for Greg.

Greg is one of the 70 Mexican under 13s who reside in the United States and have dual citizenship, which gives him the opportunity to someday represent either of his two countries. Although Greg has already played elite Mexican futbol teams, he considers this opportunity an important challenge, and his father, Primo Gutierrez states that "participation in these Olympics will serve as a good measure as to whether his son is on the right track in his development as a player".

But for Greg and his family, these type of challenges are just normal. The Gutierrez family, among other sacrifices, cancelled their Spring vacation in order to attend the trials. Greg returned from a tournament in the north of the country and Primo waited for him at the airport and from their drove to Dallas, "it was a tiring trip; I had to stop continuously to keep from falling asleep", he says with a smile.

All that sacrifice had its reward after the third day of the trials, when Greg was chosen as one of the 18 who will travel. "I felt a little nervous because not only was I the only one who spoke no Spanish, but the physical differences were great", said the defending midfielder (which is the position he will play on the team). The fundamentals of his game is recovery and the ability to distribute, which is what the trainers saw in him; and to compete against a more technical Mexican futbol, this will be very helpful.

Not everything was roses for Greg during the tryouts. He said "during the second day I was very tired and my father offered to take me back home, but I decided to stay, because I believe in my ability" and that is why he secured his place. Patience and sacrifice are the characteristics that a defending midfielder must have on the field, and those were precisely the keys that opened the door for this elite player and enabled him to reach his objective. Both both Greg and his father (who was with him all three days), state that, at all times, they were helped by both the technical staff and the MASA authorities, “the contact we received was always personal and absolutely respectful, everything professional" affirmed Primo.

Since this is the first time that Mexico has accepted a team formed by Mexican residents in the United States "this provokes a clash of

cultures and emotions at gametime", said Greg's father; who also believes that although there may be some friction between the Mexican teams and the American residents, he is sure that the game will put everything in its place, to which Greg adds, "the Mexican boys have a lot more technique, but if we are able to be organized tactically, we can win sufficient respect to go far in the Olympics".

MASA (Mexican American Sports Association) will be responsible for the security of the

boys and any injury they might sustain. This speaks well of the seriousness and commitment of the program which also involves the National Comission for Physical Culture and Sport (CONADE), whose president is Carlos Hermosillo, past member of the Mexican national team.

Although this might present a clash of cultures between two neighboring countries, and it is inevitable that much will be made of the futbol rivalry that exists and has grown in the last few years between both countries, Primos insists that "if Greg ever got the opportunity to represent either of the two countries, the decision would be exclusively his". He also commented on the trip his son is about to make, "I think that it will be very positive, to have travel with this team and the coaching staff, to be on his own and to resolve those problems that will present themselves". In the three days of the trials, Greg learned some Spanish terms " derecha , izquierda o pasala.’"

In the United States, there are many cases like Greg, boys who have dual citizenship and have great talent. It is for this reason that Mexico has begun to look north to try to identify these future stars and incorporate them into their juvenile teams before they are found by trainers from the United States. Like usually occurs in these type of tournaments, important Mexican clubs such as Chivas from Guadalajara, will send talent scouts to observe and participate.

The structure of the tournament will be 3 groups of 4 teams. The Mexican American team will be in the same group with the teams from Sinaloa (host team), Jalisco, and Baja California. The winners of each group, plus the best second will pass on to the finals.

May
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