Former Pumas College Prep student-athlete Alvaro Garcia left in August for Mexico City to train with Pumas UNAM. The club has one of the most storied histories in Mexican professional soccer. At the time, the team was coached by former Real Madrid star Hugo Sanchez.
“When I came in I was training with the 2nd Division team. I trained daily in the afternoons and played a few games with them,” said Alvaro whose family currently lives in New York. In late October, Alvaro was moved up to the first team reserves. He started his last two games with them against the reserves of America and Cruz Azul.
“We trained on a daily basis and little by little I was earning my spot. Then everything started going downhill. The head coach Hugo Sanchez was fired and everything started changing. The club told me that I could take a week off. When I came back they no longer accepted me on the team.” As the roster turned over as a result of the new coaching staff Alvaro started to see that unfortunately some of players were getting into the club not because of their skills, but because of who they knew. Some of their parents had played pro at this institution, and some just paid extra money. Alvaro never got an explanation for not being on the team anymore.
However he did get invited to go and train with Cruz Azul, who like Pumas UNAM also plays division 1 in the professional league. Alvaro said “I’ve been training with their 2nd division team since early December. To get more training in, I went to train with another 2nd Division professional team where they promised me more than I ever got. Practices were about 1 ˝ hours away and my only way of getting there was by subway. I was discriminated against only because I came from the U.S. Players who had starting spots on the team for example were the coach’s son and the owner’s son.” Alvaro continues, “They were mediocre players and other players who gave there all at every training session never even got a chance to prove themselves. I don’t know how it may be in other countries; unfortunately this is one of the sad realities that exist in this country.”
Alvaro says he started to realize something about the game at the next level, “Soccer isn’t just a sport about who is gifted and has the ability to do big things and give something for the team. It’s also a business, where if you don’t have the money, then most likely you won’t move up the ranks.”
During Alvaro’s final days with this club the coach and the owners came up to him after training one day and asked for money. When Alvaro asked them what is was for they said that it was for registration. “I told them I would pay later and they agreed. After doing some investigating, I then found out that I was the only one who was being charged this ridiculous amount of money. The next day when I was asked for the money, I told them that I didn’t have it and just like that they asked me to leave the field and go home.”
So Alvaro left but his luck hadn’t run out. “When I was at Pumas, a scout from Atlante, who is also in the 1st division professional league, gave me a chance to train with the reserves at their stadium. So I’ve been training with them ever since. My subway ride to these training sessions is two hours away. So I normally get up at 5 in the morning to get their in time for training. Since I’ve been in Mexico, training with Atlante has been one of my better experiences.” Since playing with Atlante Reserves Alvaro has also been given a one month trial for Cruz Azul in February.
