The San Jose Earthquakes hosted the ‘Best Game Ever’ presented by Avaya – a match between underserved U-12 youth teams at Avaya Stadium – on Saturday, Sept. 9.
The Winchester Soccer League Gold and Premier teams competed on the same pitch the Earthquakes do, with supporters, Quakes players Nick Lima and Francois Affolter serving as guest coaches, an announcer, custom jerseys and a running video board. They also participated in a full pregame walkout, team photos, coin flip and national anthem.
“Every child dreams and deserves to one day arrive at a stadium like this,” said Ernesto Gonzalez of Winchester Soccer Club. “Our motivation has always been to teach children the message of respect for parents and caring for their studies and also focus on the sport they like so much. We have seen very good results because there are many young people who have gone on to graduate from college and are responsible parents and men. I have always been careful that the coaches are volunteer parents who all have the same goal to get children off the streets and to be drug free.”
