Player Focus: Alexis and Amber Hernandez

The only thing more incredible than the fact that brother and sister Alexis and Amber Hernandez both play for youth national teams is the fact that both represent Mexico. The Hernandez siblings have lived their entire lives in California, but in the past year both have worn Mexico’s famous tricolor. Children of a Mexican-born mother and second-generation Mexican-American father, Alexis and Amber are among the latest in the growing number of American-born players returning to their ancestral homeland to play their soccer.

Alexis and Amber Hernandez with Mexican youth national team coaches (photo courtesy of Hernandez family)

At just 14, Amber is a year younger than her brother Alexis. She was the first to be noticed by Mexican coaches at an ODP (Olympic Development Program, which, in theory at least, is the pathway to the US national team) tryout in California in 2007. After watching Amber in action, the coaches sought out her father, Esmaldo, and said they were interested in bringing Amber to Mexico to try out for the U-17 national team. Amber says she was surprised. “I’ve always wanted to be a professional soccer player,” she says, “But as soon as I heard that I was surprised because I didn’t think it would happen to me so soon.”In February of last year, 13 year-old Amber headed to Mexico City to try to win a spot on the team. The tryout, she says, was “really hard and exciting at the same time.” The altitude of the Mexican capital was a particular challenge for her, but young Amber showed a mature attitude, saying simply that she “had to push herself through everything.” Push she did, and Amber won a spot on the U-17 team.

Amber says one of the most memorable parts of her time with the U-17s came after the games themselves. “After games the fans would come down and ask for autographs and pictures.” Amber says it was exciting, but a bit surprising to the 13 year-old. Afterwards, all she could think was, “Oh god, they asked me for my autograph.”

The Mexican U-17 girls team (Amber is in the middle row, second from the right)

Amber’s achievements alone are incredible, but less than a year later her brother matched them. After taking part in the Copa Chivas, a youth tournament hosted by parent team Chivas Guadalajara, Alexis impressed Mexican youth national team coaches enough to earn a tryout with the country’s U-17s. Like his sister, Alexis was surprised to get this call-up from the Mexican federation. “With my sister, they called her and we thought it was a prank call. I thought it was going to be the same for me.” But the Mexican federation was serious and before long Alexis was making the same trip his sister had just months before, flying to Mexico in an attempt to earn a spot on the country’s U-17 national team.

The team was training in Acapulco and when Alexis first joined them, some of the other players did not take kindly to him. “They didn’t think I was that good at first, when they heard there was an American player coming.” That changed, Alexis says, “when I showed them I could play. Then I got respect from all of them.” He earned a spot on the team and played for Mexico in several games.

Alexis with Mexican youth national team boss Jesus Ramirez

It’s been quite a journey for Amber and Alexis. They have lived most of their lives in Porterville, California, a small city in the largely agricultural and poor Central Valley. Both grew up playing AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization), which supports soccer that is more for recreation and generally less competitive than leagues affiliated with USSF (United States Soccer Federation). Both quickly outgrew this level of competition and joined the South Valley Chivas Academy. This academy, begun by their father Esmaldo and his brother Gilbert Hernandez, has helped both to develop, and in Alexis’ case, enabled him to play in the Copa Chivas tournament that showed him off to the Mexican national team.

It can be hard for players in areas like the Central Valley to get noticed, says Esmaldo Hernandez. Money keeps a lot of players from joining organized teams (he says that there are many orange pickers in the area with buckets of talent) and those that they do join are not the elite clubs to which the US national team program has traditionally looked for players. Hernandez says he’s been frustrated to see his kids go through the ODP program, but never reach the national level. “What we noticed is that they made it to state, to regionals, but that’s as far as they would go.” He wonders whether politics may have played a role, as the ODP coaches already knew players from the elite youth clubs.

The lack of interest from the US youth national teams may be about to end, though. Soon after Alexis returned from Mexico, Chivas USA coaches called to let him know that the US was now interested in bringing him for a tryout for their U-17 national team. Alexis will travel to Florida later this month to try to impress the American coaches.

Alexis has another major tryout coming up this spring. In May, he will travel to Guadalajara to try to earn a spot with Chivas. He has impressed coaches there in previous trials and this is the final cut, which will determine whether the team will offer him a contract. Playing for Chivas is a goal of his, especially because everyone in his family supports the team and he grew up watching them. (Alexis’s father says that some people have called Alexis a “Padilla,” referring to Jesus Padilla, the player whose American birth recently caused a stir in Guadalajara, but that Alexis is not resentful. Alexis met Padilla on his recent trip to Guadalajara – he describes him as a “nice guy” – and says that he is a bit anxious at what type of reception he might receive as the latest American-born player, but his love of Chivas overwhelms any concerns.)

Amber’s aspirations are less focused than those of her brother, though in no way less lofty. She is currently training with the Mexican U-17s, preparing for World Cup qualifying. Reaching the tournament is a goal of hers, Amber tells me, but not the only one she harbors. “I hope to go to the World Cup someday. After that, I hope to get a scholarship to university and to play pro. But I also want to be a pediatrician.” (Her father tells me later that her career goals all “depend what day you catch her on.”) Having a set career path is not something expected of most 14 year-old girls, and in this way Amber is no different from her peers.

But in so many ways, both Amber and Alexis are unlike most American teenagers. They wake up each day at 5:00 to run 5 miles on the treadmill and finish with a 2-mile nightcap (there is, of course, school and soccer practice sandwiched in between). If the Hernandez siblings don’t achieve their goals, it will not be for lack of effort.

Stories like those of Alexis and Amber Hernandez are becoming more and more common. Mexican-American players are increasingly showing up on the rosters of Mexican club and national teams, including Michael Orozco of San Luis, Jose Francisco Torres of Pachuca, Edgar Castillo of Santos, and several others. Esmaldo Hernandez is simultaneously proud of his kids – seeing their development gives him “joy, a lot of joy” – and perplexed that they were noticed by Mexican youth national teams before those of the US. “How could another country pick up on a kid that should have been given a shot here?” he wonders.

But Alexis and Amber are happy to play for either national team. Amber says that if she had the opportunity to play for the US, she would “have to make a big decision,” but she’d be happy to represent either country. When asked the same question, Alexis laughs, pauses, and answers: “Well, it would be good if I could play for both.”

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 10:59 am and is filed under Ethnicity/Race, Immigration, Latin America, Nationalism/Identity, North America, Player Focus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.