Sports Spotlight

Richardson’s Silver Soccer League

By Patti Otte

 

It’s 11:00 am on a Tuesday morning at Richardson’s Soccer Spectrum, a local indoor soccer field. Athletes are racing back and forth, aggressively passing and dribbling the ball. They yell at their teammates, sometimes for encouragement and sometimes demanding the ball. One player heads the ball to another, who swiftly scores and the play begins anew.

These players aren’t messing around: they play to win. This game is serious business, except for the lack of penalty cards, official scores or MVPs. And all the good-hearted heckling. And the beer…after the game, of course. And the fact that all the players happen to be between 70 and 91! Players 60 to 69 years old must wait for the second hour to play, but several of the old timers keep playing for two solid hours, going head-to-head with the “young ones.”

Back in 1975 when these men started playing together competitively through the North Texas Premier Soccer Association, they bonded over a shared love of the sport but were playing to win. 36 years later, in 2011, their passion for soccer was stronger than ever. But playing outside competitively became more difficult, so Sicilian-born John Fina, affectionately known as the “Comandante,” decided it was time to move the games indoors.

Fina found Richardson’s Soccer Spectrum and started recruiting his fellow NTPSA players for what is now aptly known as the Silver Soccer League. Talking to Fina about the Silver League is like discussing summer camp with an exuberant kid who’s just spent the best summer ever with his friends. Fina loves soccer. But more importantly, he loves the camaraderie the league provides: the shared stories, the friendships, the laughter, the memories.

27 countries are represented in the 60+ players of the Silver Soccer League. John Fina grew up playing in Sicily. Zequinha played professionally with Pele on Brazil’s national team. According to his teammates, “Z” is the best player in the Silver League. At 75, he still plays like a champion.

John Valias played in his home country of Greece. Danilo Sanchez started playing as a young boy in Columbia, where “soccer is in the blood,” he says. Mario Quijana learned to play in El Salvador as a young man before emigrating to America. He proudly served in the US Army during Vietnam and earned a Purple Heart. At 91 years young, Dario Sifuentes is the oldest player in the League but shows no signs of slowing down.

Talk amongst the guys frequently turns back to John Fina and gratitude not only for his efforts to establish the league but also for the fact that he’s alive. His nickname, “Lazarus,” was coined after a deadly heart attack he had playing at Soccer Spectrum. Thankfully, teammate and local orthodontist Carlos Navarro performed CPR and saved Fina…and, most likely, the league because Fina seems to be the “heart” of the team.

While all were at once fierce competitors, they now play for the spirit of the game. They love it. “Z” laughingly shares that he plays soccer more than he attends church. Sifuentes calls the league a brotherhood. After the game, players retire to the “office” (bar at the end of the field) to, they say, “make monumental decisions about nothing.”

Clearly the Silver Soccer League means everything to this incredible group of men. One player summed up the entire experience by saying, “We go on the court and forget the rest of the world. Winning is not the point. It’s the playing and the friendships.” And the laughter. So much laughter.

Note: Anyone is welcome to visit Soccer Spectrum at 1251 Digital Drive in Richardson to watch the Silver Soccer League players in action. Games are held every Tuesday and Friday from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm. Visitors can watch the practice from bleachers next to the field. Everyone is welcome.
For more information about Fina and his teammates, simply Google “Silver Soccer League Richardson.” WFAA produced a story about the league last year and posted coverage and original videos of the players.

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