NHB Futbol- North Huntington Beach Futbol Club

The June Mitton Scholarship Award for the 2004-05 season was given to two young men that played for the Boys U-17 NHBFC team coached by Sean Dick. Both young men will receive $3000 to help them with there college needs.

From left to right in photo:
Ryan Schroeder, George Mitton, President and Brian Muniz
The following statements are from the young men receiving the award:

Ryan Schroeder: I am a senior at Marina High School where I have been playing varsity for the past two years. I have a 3.7 GPA and an SAT score of 1880. I've been accepted to Cal Poly Pomona as a computer science major, (however, I'm still mainly undecided) and am eagerly waiting to hear from San Luis Obispo and UC Santa Cruz.
I have played for several club teams since age 10 and can honestly say nobody can match my experiences at NHB. My first team from OCU, went to State Cup with only nine players deciding to show up. Our coach was also missing which didn't help the situation either. We were butchered 20-0 which is probably a State Cup record. Despite the terrible first year, I was determined to stick with club soccer. I have always struggled with my size, although I am not the shortest player I am usually the lightest player on the field, and at age 14 I was cut from a team because I wasn't physically strong enough. I knew where I needed to go immediately - to Coach Sean Dick who had taken his team to NHB. This club was known for its strong physical players and Sean had a reputation for his tough physical training. I was very lucky that Sean decided to give me a second chance back with his team. Things didn't start well however, breaking my collar bone after a few short weeks of practice. After the break healed, everything was all uphill. Coach Sean is a completely dedicated coach who believes in each of us and gets the best out of his players. We've also been so fortunate to have club president George Mitton there to support our team not only by observing our practices and games but also by sharing his knowledge of the defensive aspect of the game. His input has given our coach insight as to how the defensive players of the team should play and has improved our team overall.
For my college essay, I was asked to write about what personal qualities I have that I can contribute to campus. I realized that many of the qualities I've developed have resulted from playing soccer at a high level for most of my life. I've learned to be organized, motivated, and focused in order to juggle schoolwork and soccer. I've developed determination and dedication after being pushed to the limit by my coach, until my teammates and I were nearly falling down with exhaustion. In high school, I was elected captain of my frosh/soph team. My experience with NHB had given me the leadership and confidence to organize a group of players who had played street ball but never on a team. I learned that keeping your cool, staying positive, and encouraging someone always gets the best out of them. Most importantly, I've learned teamwork and cooperation during my years with NHB. Out team is made up of 18 very different individuals. But although we are very different, as a team we will do anything for one another. As a team we've accomplished many goals despite the odds against us. In the last few years, we have ascended two levels becoming one of the top ranked gold teams in our age bracket. Other coaches and players alike have been surprised that we've accomplished so much because our team has no outstanding players. But that is precisely the reason we've come so far, we play as a team.
Although my size may keep me from playing college soccer, my love of the game will always keep me involved in soccer in some way or another. I'm very grateful for all of the opportunities and memories from my years with NHB. I'll never forget when we beat Samba at Nationals or our team trip to England! Thank you, NHB, it's been a great experience.

Brian Muniz: I am a senior at Huntington Beach High School. My GPA is 2.82 and I will be attending Portland Community College this coming year.
I have been playing for NHB for the past 5 years since this team moved from South Coast. I have been playing for Sean Dick for 6 years and was the starting forward on this team for most of my career until this last season.
In my time with NHB we won tournaments, improved from silver to gold and hopefully I helped this team get into Premier next year. I experienced the greatest trip of my life this past summer with this team when we went to England for 10 days. My passion of the game has grown greatly. I was a leading scorer to heating up the bench. This past season started out rough as I was unsure if I would play another game for this team, but I came back from the High School season break and tried and tried to show the juniors that I wanted them to be Premier team although I wouldn't be on the team next year. I worked hard in training for this year's Nationals and it paid off when I scored the game-winning goal against Surf in the round of 16, we advanced to the round of 8 which was our best finish ever.
I will now be moving out of state to Oregon once I graduate. I plan on majoring in the field of Education. I would then like to teach at a high school and hopefully coach soccer there at the same time. I would like to give back to the youth they way NHB helped me grow. As much as I'd like to thank NHB, I would like to thank my parents for everything they did just for me to play what I love most, soccer. It was a well earned honor to play for one of the greatest clubs in Southern California.
Thank you NHB!