College Showcase 2004

Festival in Temecula for high school and college athletes lets coaches, players meet.

By: LEW PRICE / The Press-Enterprise

Photos by: Frank Bellino / The Press-Enterprise

Saturday, April 3, 2004 - TEMECULA, CA

They are playing soccer in Temecula this weekend, not just playing it, exulting in it, showcasing it, celebrating it. They are doing so on a scale previously considered beyond the imagination of any everyday, soccer enthusiast.

But then, Greg Morales, 33, is not one to be confined by the constraints of conventional wisdom. He has taken an idea and expanded it to enormous lengths. The result of his ambition is the Southern California Premier College Classic, a two-day festival of soccer featuring 39 collegiate teams and 81 youth teams playing 126 games on 14 fields at the 44-acre John Blanche Memorial Soccer Complex.

Morales, with the support of Toyota and the Southwest Soccer Club, have come up with the first event of its type.

"It's a brilliant idea," said Junior Gonzalez, head coach of the men's team at UC Riverside. "To have all these colleges and all these youth together like this is huge for us. We can recruit and we can see what other systems of play other schools are using and we can do it all in one place. Greg has done something tremendous. I can see this becoming a real college showcase deal."

That's the plan.

Morales, who works in sales for Toshiba by day, has spent a good portion of his adult life coaching soccer. He concocted the idea for the showcase while talking with a friend during a long drive, the original goal to attract a half-dozen area college teams and maybe six or eight youth teams.

But as word of his idea spread, the response became overwhelming.
"I just kind of ran with it," Morales said. "I put it out there to all the colleges and got good response. I would come home from work and check my business line and there would be inquiries from colleges all over. And I began to realize this could work."

Motivation
His motivation, beyond passion, has practical roots.

"The thought was why don't we create an opportunity where the kids can be seen by the colleges and the colleges can be seen by the kids?" Morales said. "We're almost reversing the process. My pitch to the kids was this is your chance to go see the college coach."

Among teams on display are the Santa Clara men's team and the 2002 NCAA champion Portland University women's team, as well as some of the elite youth teams in California. Most of the colleges represented are from California, but the Air Force Academy is here, as is Wyoming.

"The thing is, college soccer has evolved into a year-round endeavor," said Erik Visser, head coach of the University of San Francisco. "This is a great opportunity for us to come down and play two games against two good opponents from Southern California."

And those involved seem to agree the idea was past due.

"No question," Visser said. "The soccer community is starting to come together with the opportunity to grow the game in this country. Greg is on the cutting edge with this. This is great for every program involved."

Development
The spring season in soccer is a time for development, the NCAA restricting programs to five playing dates. This is also the time when high school programs are concluding.

So, the opportunity to play two games in one day against high-caliber competition was an easy and obvious sell. And it was easier than Morales had envisioned, even though he had never been involved in directing a tournament.

"I don't know if overwhelmed is the right word," Morales said. "But when I would browse Web sites and see that these colleges had posted this as part of the schedule, I realized this was happening."

If he has his way, Morales said, this weekend will be the beginning.

"My hope is this will come off as a great success and there will be a demand to do it again," he said.

The investment to date has been about $35,000, Morales said, noting that he would never have succeeded without the assistance of the Southwest Soccer Club. Southwest operates the complex, has worked to ensure the sod is in excellent condition and has done all the little things like painting and lining the 14 fields and helping recruit a volunteer staff of three dozen.

Good for soccer
"This is just a great thing for the valley," said Khaled Al-Shafie, the club's president. "Something like this has never been done before and to have something this big here, well, it's a great opportunity for the kids and for Temecula."

Al-Shafie is among those convinced this weekend is only the start of something special. "Our long-term commitment is to our youth," he said. "And that is going to guide us. We're going to help our players pursue their dreams. This is absolutely huge for Southern California if not the U.S. And we're ready for it."

The schedule this weekend is structured so that youth games begin at even hours and collegiate games at odd hours. That way the youth teams have the opportunity to view the college games and vice versa. Each team will play two games, the males Saturday, the females on Sunday.

"You know, it's just amazing that this has never been done before," Morales said. "I just happened to be the guy who decided to pursue it."