NHB Futbol- North Huntington Beach Futbol Club

In Photo from left to right:
Benjamin Sussman, Jeremy Small,
President George Mitton
Tomer Konowiecki, Matt Blank

The following statements are from the young men receiving the award:

Benjamin Sussman: I have been on my current NHB team with coach Soto since we moved over from CRSC 4 years ago. I have been playing club soccer since I was an U-9, fortunately always at the Gold or Premier level. I have been the starting keeper all of my career and have been lucky to have won many tournaments and championships. I was co-captain this year and felt like I fulfilled my responsibilities to Eddie and the team as the co-captain. I tried to lead by setting an example by making practices, being on time and by giving 100% on the field.
I was the starting keeper at Capo Valley High School this year and was named MVP. We had a disappointing year on the field but I learned a lot about sportsmanship and losing with grace. I have SAT score of 1140 and a GPA of 2.88. I was recruited to play at Cal Poly Pomona and will attend there is September.
I have been a referee for four years and plan to continue as often as I can. I'm going to be getting my coaches license this summer and I would like to either coach a team or be a goalkeeper trainer for the club. No matter what I do, I will always be involved with soccer. I hope I can be one of the alumni that gets asked back to events because I would like to stay friends with Eddie and many of the players. I really feel that I have been blessed as a soccer player and need to give-back to the game. Hopefully with the NHB organization.

Jeremy Small: I am a senior at Edison High School right here in Huntington Beach and I have a cumulative GPA of 3.2. I have played high school all 4 years, 3 of which have been at the varsity level. I was a contributing factor in my team's success in reaching the CIF playoffs. I have taken my NHB club experience and applied it to my high school team. I have been taking college prep classes in the hopes of preparing myself for college since I was a freshman. Neither of my parents attended college and I made it a point early in my life that I would attend college.
I have played club soccer since B-12 for a few different clubs. For the past three years I have played for NHB all of which have been with Eddie Soto. I came from a lower level club team in which I was cut from, but unlike any other coach, I was given a second chance by Eddie here at NHB.
My first year was a bit rough with NHB. I didn't get a lot of playing time, but I was able to mix it up and contribute a bit, so I stuck with it, hoping that I would become the player that I so desperately wanted to be. Today going into State Cup, I guess you could call me a regular in the starting lineup. I haven't missed a game since being on this team, and it's all starting to pay off, and the pieces are falling in place. During the 2004-2005 season, I received several calls from college coaches, all of whom were interested in me joining their soccer program. It felt good to receive letters and phone calls from reputable coaches that wanted me to join their program in hopes of improving it. If I was to have just given up and quit because I wasn't playing, then I wouldn't be where I am today. In part, this is due to Eddie's guidance as a coach.
Today, I am the player that I wanted to be a few years back. I'm bigger, stronger, faster, and just an all-out better skilled player, both physically and mentally since I first joined NHB. I'm all set to attend Vanguard University of Southern California in the fall semester. Not only am I going to attend Vanguard, I am going to play soccer for them and they are ranked 11th nationally in the NAIA division. I felt that Vanguard best suited my needs, where I could be in my element and my environment here in Orange County. I credit a lot of my accomplishments to NHB for giving me a chance to have fun and play good competitive club soccer. This has been a good experience for me and I feel that I have learned discipline, respect and patience and hope to take it to the next level.

Tomer Konowiecki: During the past 3 years, the game of soccer has grown in my life beyond the habitual and recreational sport it once was. It has taken over my life, my thoughts, and my dreams. In these years I have grown as a player as well as a person, more than any prior. Physically and mentally, my game has come together. My team, which I proudly and confidently represent and credit to my growth, is NHB.
Currently, I am studying at Long Beach Poly High School where I have a 3.8 GPA and scored a 1270 on the SAT. When I began with NHB several years ago, I knew of the club's previous accomplishments and fame. Their reputation of a great tournament, three national championships, and their production of top athletes in the country, is astonishing. I knew, with the extensive training with my previous coach mentor, Eddie Soto, who I have known since I was 11, would transform me into the player I wanted to be. I was right. Since my joining with NHB, I have had the honor of playing and competing at the top level possible. Our team received invitations to the top tournaments in the country, and I have had the ability to be exposed and scouted by top colleges.
My world of soccer has grown. It was now more than several weekday practices and weekend matches. NHB and my coach introduced me to a life of the game I was unaware of; a life of competition, struggle, commitment, and teamwork. But most of all, NHB has torched a strong sense of passion within me; a passion to win, to work far beyond the body permits and never to settle for less than your potential. When I now step onto the pitch each and every game, this passion propels me to play and help give NHB the name it has given me.
NHB has also fashioned my future. I have recently committed to play for American University in Washington D.C., a top Division 1 program in the country. For any viewer, this is proof and evidence supporting the great nature of this club. I thank my teammates, my coach and teacher Eddie Soto, and all else who have supported and helped the club during my NHB experience. I came into the club just playing soccer. I am leaving as a soccer player.

Matt Blank: I can remember few things in my life that have given me as much joy as playing soccer. For me soccer is more than a game, it's a way of life. It's an outlet for emotion, a form of self discipline, and a lesson in the ways of the world. I have often found myself dreaming that I was on the field, perfect cross coming to my foot and the opportunity to win the championship mine. I'll then wake up to find that my foot hurts and there's a whole in my wall where I dreamt a ball was. During my three years playing for NHB I have suffered similar injuries, but for the most part it has been a dream come true.
I have always wanted to play at the top level of soccer. Until Eddie Soto took over our small, troubled team I never thought it was going to happen. However, here we stand playing in the under nineteen premier league, representing one of the most respected clubs in the country and for this I am very grateful. NHB has given me a chance to play with the best, train with the best and learn from the best.
I can say with confidence that I have learned more about life and what it takes to succeed from my years playing for NHB than in all my years in school. When we started training for our first season the odds were against us and no one thought we could win. That year I learned about perseverance and what it means to be down, but not out. I have since learned what it means to give something all of your heart and have nothing left. I have learned to never give up and to laugh in the face of adversity. I have learned more than this paper permits me to write, but I maintain that NHB has given me something of inestimable value, and that is character.
I'll finish High School with a GPA of 3.5 and an SAT of 1270. With that I've narrowed my decision for college between Chapman University or UC Merced.
So what has NHB been to me? It's been a mentor and a friend. It's been a haven from the hardships of life and the knowledge to overcome them. It's been an opportunity that, at the end of the day, I fell honored to be a part of.