It’s Friday afternoon on the field, and there is a light rain with a chill in the air. Coach Paloma Sandoval and a group of energetic girls, who are still wearing shorts, are practicing ball control over and over again.
Paloma Sandoval is not only the new soccer coach for girls this year, but also she has also been the school nurse assistant for the last four years, is the daughter of Head of the Food Department Gina Fontana, and an OVS upper campus alum from the class of 2006.
Before coaching at OVS, Coach Paloma helped coach Oxnard college women’s soccer over the last three years and played for them in 2017. She also coached the boys high school team at Nordhoff last year.
The girls soccer team went through several different coaches for past three years. Last year, coach Kris Watanabe was deeply liked and respected by players, but after getting a full-time job this year, he wasn’t able to return to coach at OVS.
“Coming into this season, no one wanted to play soccer because we [never thought we could have a coach as good as Kris] until we found Paloma was coaching, and many people rejoined soccer,” said senior Megan Manion of Watanabe, who has played soccer every winter season since she first came to OVS. “For me, I wasn’t going to play soccer unless we have a good coach.”
Her former coach Gretchen Wachter is delighted to see her come back and coach the girls soccer.
“I think it is awesome, she was a super good player who gave it a hundred and ten percent all the time,” said Ms. Wachter. “So I am glad she came back and giving the same passion to the girls team, and it seems like she is putting a hundred and ten percent into it as well.”
When Sandoval was a student, she played soccer and rode horses competitively. However, despite her athletic accolades, she said that she struggled with confidence throughout her younger years. So when she is coaching now, she is determined to make sure her players won’t go through the same struggles she did.
“For the girls on the field, I see how amazing they can be and I can see their potential, but I feel like they don’t see that, so my main goal is to instill confidence in them, let them believe in themselves,” Sandoval said.
After her many years of experience playing, Paloma has now turned into an intense coach who makes practice difficult and expects hard work from her players.
“I just asked them to do lots of things they haven’t done before, they haven’t pushed their limits, and they’re all sticking with it with a positive attitude,” she said. “I am impressed by their willingness to be put in an uncomfortable position, and I haven’t had any girl quit, or any girl not is able to finish the drill.”
Freshman Hope Henderson, who just joined the soccer team this year, feels like she has already seen improvements in herself this season.
“I love Paloma… I feel like I can actually play soccer now,” said Hope. “She does a lot [of] endurance training, so I got a lot of benefits out of practice with her as my coach.”
Sandoval hopes to see the program improve and strengthen in the coming years.
“We have a lot of youth players…if they continue to stay focused and committed, we will have a great team,” said coach Paloma. “My ultimate goal is for this to be like a competitive soccer program, where people want to come and play soccer, and I want them to learn and play real soccer, and to be fit, and to know the game.”
While coaching the girls, Sandoval said she is reminded of herself in some of the girls.
“There are some players really caring and really wanting to play soccer,” continued Sandoval. “I am so happy that I can help them to achieve their goals, and I just want this program to grow.”