Kristen Amarikwa and Reigna Banks, members of the South Valley G97 team, made the Cal South ODP Winter pool. These players are the first girls to be chosen from Bakersfield since Erica Shelton was selected around 10 years ago. Erica Shelton now coaches one of our G05 teams. The ODP pool consists of the top 26 players in Southern California from all Cal South clubs. The girls will spend the month of December training with the team in preparation for the the US Youth Soccer ODP Region IV Championships that will be held in Phoenix, Arizona, from Jan 8th – 11th . If the Cal South team wins in Phoenix, they will have the opportunity to compete in the ODP National Championships that are held in Frisco, Texas, from February 27th – March 1st .

South Valley’s G97 team, coached by Jason Carter, competed in the prestigious November Nights College Showcase over Thanksgiving weekend. They had two wins and one loss, but more importantly, their games were attended by over 90 college coaches, including, UCLA, University of Oregon, University of Nebraska, Santa Clara, and University of North Carolina. Multiple South Valley players have been offered scholarships from the tournament. Everyone pictured is a college coach at one of the G97’s matches. The G97s are only the second team from Bakersfield to ever be accepted into November Nights, the other one being South Valley G95s!

South Valley SC had numerous teams make the trek down to San Diego to compete in the fabled Nomads Thanksgiving Showcase. Four teams progressed out of pool play and competed in the elimination brackets. Quarterfinalists included the G96 Jacinto and G98 Carter teams. Semifinalists included G99 Howlett and G00 Howlett. Along the way, our teams defeated teams from Colorado Rapids, Calgary Foothills, Crescenta Valley, San Diego United, and Legends FC. Great job girls!

The South Valley Thunder G03 and G04 teams coached by Monica Chambers were full of energy on Friday night, 10/3. They romped all over the CSUB main soccer facility while waiting their turn to take to the pitch in a fast-paced, full-field 11 v 11 friendly match against each other at half-time. Even though most of the girls had never played on such a large field, they still had plenty of energy to finish off the second half of the CSUB women’s game in Thunder style . . . with games of tag, soccer ball keep-away and grass wrestling. Yep. All girl!

South Valley’s G97 team is proud to announce that two more of its players have made commitments to continue playing soccer at a collegiate level. Reigna Banks and Raegan Staib, both seniors who will be graduating this coming June, are planning to attend Metro State in Denver, CO. The girls each had decisions to make between multiple offers, and are excited to have the opportunity to play for Metro, a perennial Div II tournament participant, and a former National Champion. We’re really proud of all of our club’s players who are either currently playing in college or are planning to do so. Coach Carter likes to remind people that the reason South Valley was founded was to help young adults reach their student-athlete goals. Go South Valley!!