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MVLA Girls '95/'96 Program
MVLA currently is comprised of three 95/96 birth year teams. The teams are Lightning (Class 1), Thunder (Class 1) and Hurricanes (Class 3). If your daughter is born on/after August 1, 1995 and on/before July 31, 1996, then they are age appropriate for our program. Many of our girls play year-round soccer with team practices twice a week during season - Fall and Spring - and optional practices, clinics, futsal, indoor soccer and camps to keep them active during the Winter and Summer.
Our program is uniquely positioned to provide the best training and development for the girls. Because we have three sister teams, the girls have the ability to stay with friends, stay with the same trainers and skill clinics, yet move between teams as their ability changes and as their personal goals for soccer changes. Many of the girls will increase their level and intensity for competitive soccer over the next few years and some will naturally opt to play other sports or dedicate their free time to other outside hobbies and interests leading to a decreased desire for rigorous Class 1 soccer. That is a perfectly healthy and accepted attitude in our program. We encourage each player to be the best they can in an environment that supports and fosters their goals. Our program allows them the flexibility to stay with the MVLA program, yet move amongst the teams as appropriate.
The commitment level at each of our teams is very different. The Lightning team not only has a practice and fitness training commitment, but their families need to take on the additional commitment to travel to as many as 6 tournaments in a season (not including District and State Cup), which may take them to places such as Sacramento or San Diego. The Hurricanes, on the other hand, will not have an intense tournament schedule and may play in as few as 1 local tournament (not including District Cup). Their weekend and travel commitment is significantly less, as are the costs involved.
Winter
In the Winter many of our girls elect to play indoor soccer or futsal with the team and some choose alternate sports such as basketball. Winter play for our program is optional. Throughout the winter optional weekend scrimmages, fitness sessions and small group clinics are offered. The Montoya Soccer Academy will typically hold week-long camps during the December winter break for those who remain in town. *Exception* The Lightning and Thunder teams will participate in State Cup and the training for that will run through part of December with games running from January to late February.
Spring
All three of our teams participate in the District 2 Spring soccer program. Training begins in early March and the season concludes at the beginning of June. Team practices during season are twice a week, in addition, weekly skill clinics are also encouraged. Typically there are no tournaments in the Spring. The Lightning team also plays futsal and runs track through the Spring season.
Summer
A variety of soccer programs are offered in the summer, but none are mandatory. The sorts of programs our girls have participated in prior summers include: a daily track program run out of Los Altos High School, weekly residency camps at Santa Clara University and Stanford University, and a once a week jumprope/fitness training led by an MVLA parent. Again, these programs are optional. The Thunder and Hurricanes teams do not participate in any Summer tournaments, but quickly begin to ramp up for our Fall season at the end of July/early August. Lightning begins team training the first week of July (after the 4th) and will participate in the three major Premier Elite tournaments in July and August including the Nike Surf Cup in San Diego, the Mustang Stampede Classic in Danville and the SoCal Blues Cup in Rancho Capistrano.
Fall
All three teams participate in the District 2 Fall soccer program. There are several tournaments that the teams will play in during August, it depends on which team your daughter is on. During the Fall there will be team practices twice a week and again, the optional small, skill clinics are offered to supplement that training. The Fall season caps off with the District Cup tournament (for Thunder and Hurricanes only), generally held in Morgan Hill, right before Thanksgiving weekend. In addition, the Lightning and Thunder teams will conclude their season at State Cup which is held in January/February, which means that their Fall season is essentially extended through February.
Coaches
The head coach for the Lightning team is Erin Montoya. She is currently the head coach of the Los Altos High School Varisty Girls Soccer team (2007 CCS Champions) and also the MVLA Avalanche (U16G - 2007 & 2008 USYSA State Cup Champions). Prior to that Erin was a standout player at Santa Clara University, a former professional player (WUSA) with both the San Diego Spirit and San Jose Cyberrays.
Albertin Montoya, currently the Head Coach of the Bay Area Professional Womens soccer team & an assistant coach at Stanford University is an integral part of our program. Albertin was a college Hermann Trophy finalist at Santa Clara University, part of the Men's Olympic team and a first round draft pick by the San Jose Clash. Albertin was also the coach of the three-time State Cup Champions MVLA Mercury. His passion and love of the game is absolutely contagious and the girls love his fresh approach to skill training and development.
The head coach for both the Thunder and Hurricanes is Seth Alberico. Seth was a college standout at St. Mary's and assistant coach for the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) Sacramento Storm, whose roster includes such stars as Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Sissi, Shannon MacMillan and Stacey Alberico (yup, Seth's wife).
We also have a significant number of parent-assistant coaches who have either received their soccer coaching credentials or have played collegiate level soccer themselves. The overarching training philosophy is to teach ball management which gives the players confidence and composure over the ball.
Interested in trying out? Want more information?
For more information about the Lightning team, please contact Erin Montoya at albertin.montoya@montoyasoccer.com. For more information about the Thunder or Hurricanes team, please contact Seth Alberico at sethalberico910@msn.com.
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