The Florida humidity seemed to choke the air, adding to the suspense of the final game between U15 boys- VK Cobras (UT) vs. RGV FC Dallas 02 (TX-S) in the National President’s cup. Our Utah players hail mainly from West Valley, but they symbolized all of Utah as the lone representatives at National President’s Cup Sunday, July 16th in Auburndale, Florida.
Their journey to National President’s cup was long and arduous, but they successfully rose to the top during Utah’s President’s Cup in January as well as our Regional 4 President’s Cup in June. Utah’s President’s Cup in June, sending them on track to finals. (Thousands of teams from around the nation were envious of VK Cobra’s opportunity to compete for a national championship.)
Jose Torres described his favorite moment from the trip being the moment when his team chose to communicate well during their second game, helping them to mesh and reach their goals on the field.The experience didn’t begin or end on the field, however, as the players also enjoyed their travels. For a couple of the boys, including Jose, it was their first time ever riding in an airplane.
While they suffered many challenges throughout their journey, they didn’t lack spirit or determination. They reached the final for their age group and had four players make the all-tournament team including MVP Salvador Colorado, Jose Torres Estrada, Jacob Vincent, and Hector Lazareno. Being named MVP was such a big deal, that Salvador honestly didn’t know if he was dreaming or not. That recognition meant so much to him and we are incredibly proud of his hard work.
This team is an accurate representation of UYSA’s vision of being a premier organization. Club president, Victor Manuel, remarked that the boys worked incredibly hard to get to this top level tournament. He said that as they “keep up with good work, train hard, and believe in themselves” they will continue to be on a path to success.
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