Daniel Partida - Player Spotlight
It's 2021, let's see what is in store for us this year. What I can promise to have is one amazing soccer player in our club. Our Spotlight player of the month is Daniel Partida. Getting to know the younger players more and more as a director i've heard so much about the young talent coming through the ranks here at Legends FC. We are a club that prides ourselves in player development and growing from within. Anytime you talk to coaches and people outside of our club one name keeps coming up. DANIEL PARTIDA! Daniel is a quiet and calm player with bags of skill and talent. He moves effortlessly around the field and can play any position on the field. Currently the CB for the 2008 boys Daniel cleans things up and creates so much of the attack for their young side. The side is improving daily and will continue to improve with Daniel in the team. He's someone that in training never misses and pushes his teammates to be better. Coach Andriy had this to say.
“Daniel Partida is a fantastic kid with a lot of talent and an unmatched work ethic and drive. There is no surprise he is the captain for our ECNL 08 team, as he is a natural born leader, who always brings his best to every training. He is also demanding (in the best possible way) of his teammates, and helps them tremendously by holding them to a high standard every practice session. Off the field, Daniel is a kind and joyous boy, who always has a smile on his face, and shows great care for his teammates. I am extremely happy to be Daniel’s coach, and help him to continue developing as a person and player”
Daniel started his club career in our club and Our Pre-ECNL Directors CJ started coaching him back then and he had this to say.
“I’ve had the pleasure of having Daniel since I first started working for the club 5 years ago. He is such a wonderful, respectful, and talented kid. I am watching him grow up and become a very smart, gracious and well rounded young man. He comes from a great family who I’ve grown to have a great relationship with over the years, they’ve remained loyal through this entire process and I thank them for letting me have the opportunity of having such a wonderful kid to work with day in and day out. Daniels mentality is second to none, he comes to every training session hungry and wanting to continue to get better and further his development, It goes to show you how much he wants to chase his dream. Daniel has been my captain ever since I’ve had him, he always continues to be a great leader to his peers and fellow teammates. I honestly could not have asked for a better kid to coach than Daniel, he continues to push me as a coach to get better and bring it to every single session and for that I thank him as well. His desire, drive, and loyalty to me is always something I cherish”
Daniel was asked these questions and here are his answers.
Favorite player of all time?
-Sergio Ramos
Favorite position?
-Center back
Favorite professional team and why?
LAFC, because I enjoy the way they play and it's my home team
Fondest soccer moment (go into detail)?
-We were playing in the west coast classic, in 2017, my team was down 0-1, with 2 minutes left to play. I had an opportunity to kick a free kick about 20 yards out from the goal. I stepped back, kicked the ball over the goalies head into the goal. We tied the game and went on to win the tournament.
If you could play in one stadium in the world, which one and why?
-Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy where champions play with tradition
Favorite pre game meal?
Tall glass of water, eggs, peanut butter with bread
We are excited to see Daniel on the field in 2021 Helping his team become one of the top teams in the country.
Thanks,
Drew Rea
Staff Spotlight - Joey Cascio
My Staff spotlight is Joey Cascio, who is our Boys West Director. We are very pleased to have him here at Legends FC. Joey brings his knowledge and experience and has already provided us with some fantastic insight to the game. He's provided our kid’s some new ways to look at the game and I know he will be a fantastic addition to the boys side for years to come.
Joey left Fram SC in 2020 to Join us at LFC. Over the years he's had some very successful teams in the past but Joey knew he had to make the change to push himself as a coach and mentor. During his early days coaching at Chivas USA, Galaxy, LAFA and Golden State, Joey knew he wanted to coach at the highest level and give back to the kids in his area. Making the move he understands he has some work ahead of him. Speaking to Joey on a regular basis his goal is to put the boys side of LFC West on the map. Taking over LFC West Joey knows it won't be a power house overnight, but knows the talent and ability is there in the surrounding areas. It's a matter of finding the players that want to develop and be the best and then showing them how to win. When asked about the job ahead Joey responded:
“I firmly believe that we can provide a culture of excellence for the boys side at Legends West. We can play a key role in developing the legitimate potential in the region, with an objective of forming and guiding professional caliber players toward a serious career in football.”
Joey has his C license and will be working on his coaching development in the coming years. He's a loving Husband to Jamie and they have two gorgeous daughters Aurora and Lilee. Look out for Joey on the sideline and feel free to stop him along the way and gather as much knowledge you can from a fine young coach.
Recruiting Tips
Every Player is looking for an advantage, well if you are allowed to use social media this is a good way to use it to your advantage.
Twitter for student athletes: the NCAA is extremely strict about the recruiting process, and to be honest, coaches will not be using Twitter to recruit you. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use Twitter to get your name out there. In fact, it can give you that recruitment edge you’ve been looking for. Twitter also allows you to make connections faster than anything else out there and is an incredible tool to help you create your online social media presence.
Connect with coaches. For starters, just follow the coaches of your favorite colleges and follow the colleges themselves. The coach probably won’t follow you back, but don’t worry—this can still get you noticed. You’ll be in their followers list and they get an email saying that you are now following them.
Actually tweet. Nothing is easier for getting attention than a simple tweet. Again, just because a recruiter or coach can’t tweet you back doesn’t mean they won’t find you in when they research you. And you want them to find the videos and articles you’re sharing on your Twitter feed! You
don’t have to be fancy; all you need is something like: “Hey @coach check out the Boston Globe article about my team! http://bit.url #team #volleyball #athlete #schoolname.”
Engage with the admission office. On top of making sure you tweet consistently, get your name out to the college’s admission office through direct messages (DMs) and tell them that you’re interested, or ask questions about admission or the athletics departments. Don’t spam them, though. No one likes a spammer.
Use hashtags. You already know the deal with hashtags: putting this little guy # in front of a word (with no spaces) automatically creates a link to all the other tweets in the world with that word in them. If a coach wants to click on the #basketball link, your tweet (depending on when you tweet it) will pop up in the tweet history.
Help get a conversation going. So let’s say you and a coach meet and the athletic recruiting process is underway. Show them you’ve done your homework about their team and the sport in general. If there’s a moment to just talk freely, mention what you’ve seen from them and/or their team/college on Twitter. This shows initiative and excitement about possibly playing for the team. You’re already a fan!
Watch your mouth (again!). Let’s just say from here on out anytime you’re posting on a social media site, be nice and courteous. As with Facebook, profanity and negative comments on Twitter are frowned upon and don’t get you any points with anyone. What you post is a reflection of you. If you have a bad attitude or are constantly unloading buckets of drama, coaches and schools are most likely going to pass on recruiting you.
Remember: once it’s out there, it’s out there. Say you have a tweet-happy friend who just loooooves to tweet to you with pictures or videos that don’t exactly put you in the best light. After they tweet it, it is out in the world to read. What happens if a coach just happens to be looking at your Twitter page? What happens if they click on that link? You might find the tweet 10 seconds after they clicked on it and then delete it, but it won’t make a difference. Make sure you get all your friends on the same page to keep their pictures and videos to themselves before posting your crazy shenanigans for the world to see.