By Ernie Gonzalez — Executive Editor
Just a kid from Richmond.
“Yeah, I get that a lot.”
“It wasn’t beautiful … it wasn’t that imaginary,” said midfielder Nicolas Brenes in regard to his childhood. “… my parents were scared to let me out, even though I just wanted to go and play soccer.”
Even with an influential older brother involved in a gang, nothing steered the Scorpio away from his passion and ambitions for the game of soccer.
“I owe everything to those who invested in me,” Brenes said. “My parents, my former teammates and definitely Rummel, my high school coach.”
Casey Rummel, who has been the coach of Leadership Public Schools in the City of Pride and Purpose since Brenes’ freshman year in 2013, said that he “caught his eye” right away with his technical skill and ability any coach looks for.
“He always showed up on time and led by example,” said Rummel, also a Scorpio. “He became a captain his sophomore year with us and just got better and better those last three seasons.”
That was good enough to bring two Bay Area Charter School Athletic Conference Championships to LPS before changing leagues and netting the winning penalty kick in the Oakland Athletic League title game — totaling three first place league trophies in high school.
Now at San Jose State, a soccer program that has made back-to-back Western Athletic Championship appearances, Brenes stood by his decision to stay close to home.
“I’ve always been close to my family and heard San Jose had a great coach, so I knew it was going to help me get somewhere far,” he said.
“Getting somewhere far” fits perfectly with the characteristics of a Scorpio, as they tend to be ambitious and tough to stop from achieving those goals.
Although Brenes is declared at SJSU as a communications major, working behind a desk or in front of an audience isn’t what he plans on doing later in his career.
“Right now, I am just really focused on soccer,” the sophomore said. “If that means playing for a European squad then so be it. Obviously it will be hard to be away from home, but I’m sure it will be worth it.”
Brenes and his coaches aren’t the only ones who believe that his abilities can take him far, but his teammates as well.
Andy Rios, Brenes’ roommate who plays alongside him, said he can also see the inner focus and determination his teammate has — pointing to an injury Brenes had his senior year of high school.
“He broke his toe his senior year of high school and for him to come back and still be able to play at a top level, says a lot,” Rios said.
Rios was one of seven seniors who just completed their final season with the Spartans this month and claims to have been the closest to Brenes than anyone else on the team.
The former Spartan believes his close friend he used to share a room with is destined not only to grow, but to lead as he sees SJSU clinching its first WAC championship and NCAA berth next season, partly thanks to Brenes.
“With the whole team next year pretty much being sophomores and juniors, I can see where they can really keep moving forward with more experience and make a run at it,” Rios said.
Brenes thinks so too.
“I feel like next year will be our year where we go to the NCAA tournament and go somewhere,” Brenes said. “Make history at San Jose State … that’s what we want to do.”
The journey has taken time, but it took the positive characteristics of a Scorpio to build what’s been built so far for the Richmond kid.
It also takes a Scorpio to realize that the product isn’t more important as the process — and while
he’s taking the time to perfect that process, a goal in soccer, and in life from any distance, is no sweat for Brenes.
Follow Ernie on Twitter @superego1012