Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.   The Nederland High School Soccer team will play their first game this Thursday, August 30, 2018 at Front Range Christian at 3:30 p.m.

The season opener will be the first time the Panthers have appeared on a soccer field since the school’s football league was dropped in the fall. The first home game will be on Thursday, September 6, against Denver Jewish Day at 4:30 p.m.

Most of the players do not have high school league experience, but many of them played with the Peak to Peak Soccer League throughout their elementary and middle school years and are eager to get on NHS’s artificial turf.

Not only are the players new, the head coach is also a new member of the Ned family and is eager to start building a team for the future.

Coach Alberto Gonzalez is from Spain, where he played for 10 years with Asturias CF and Alcazar CF. After that he worked as a physical trainer for one year with San Esteban CF, and also as a physical trainer and personal trainer during his 10 years in Langreo City Hall. Coach Gonzalez has worked with different athletes in different disciplines such as basketball, various other athletics, soccer, as a soccer referee, judo and cycling before he came to the United States.

As an athlete, Gonzalez is a three-time State Champion in Asturias in Judo. In the USA, he also worked as a soccer coach in Athens Independent School District for one year, Denver International School for two years, and Pioneer Charter School for one year.

Gonzalez is eager to see what his guys can do and to show the community that soccer and Ned are a good fit.

“My philosophy is easy: work hard, Ned booters and try your best, respect your opponents, your team and yourself, and most important: Be honest.
“My idea for this coming season is to prepare a team where everyone can feel important and where everyone has the opportunity to be competitive without forgetting that this is only a game.”

(Originally published in the August 30, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)