By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
Adir Ochoa is fulfilling a dream to play soccer beyond high school.
The Hanna senior signed an athletic scholarship agreement on Wednesday to play his sport next school year for Laredo Community College, a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association.
Ochoa, who plans to study business in college, signed with family members, teammates, classmates, coaches, teachers and other Brownsville ISD personnel in attendance at the Hanna auditorium.
“I feel proud and I feel that I’m completing a goal I’ve had for a long time, which is to play in college,” said Ochoa, a starter for two-and-a-half seasons in the midfield for the Golden Eagles. “I’m happy because I’m getting to play at a higher level than high school. I know it will be something different and that I’ll start as a freshman again.”
The Eagles were the second-place team in District 32-6A during the recently completed season and advanced three rounds in the Class 6A state playoffs.
Hanna coach Reyes Prado said Ochoa was an important part of the team and someone who earned all-district recognition.
“It’s the perseverance and the soccer skills that he has,” Prado said of the standout midfielder. “He has a good knowledge of the game and he pushes his teammates to be better.
“What we’re going to miss from Adir (after he graduates), even more than his soccer skills, is the great attitude he brought to the field,” the Hanna coach added. “He’s a good player, and obviously the coaches around the district know it (as evidenced by his all-district honors).
“The coach from Laredo Community College (Juan de Dios Ibarra) is giving a lot of our players (from Brownsville) an opportunity to go over there and start a soccer career in college with a chance to make a move to Division I after that. Adir is very comfortable with going over there. He won’t be too far from his family and friends, so he’s happy about that. We’re very grateful to Coach Ibarra from Laredo for helping out our players (with scholarships) and hopefully we can keep sending them to him.”
There are already players from Brownsville on the LCC roster and at least two more now have been added during the past week with Wednesday’s addition of Ochoa and the signing of Roberto “Tito” Melendez of Rivera a few days ago.
“I hope to elevate my game to the level they play in college,” Ochoa said. “In reality, it’s great to be over there (with these players from Brownsville). I know ‘Tito’ and I’ve gotten to know some of them by playing in a league outside of high school. To me, it’s a very good thing for the players from Brownsville and the Valley to come out at the college level and get to continue playing soccer.”
The graduating midfielder said there are many people inside and outside of soccer who have enabled him to reach this point of his life.
“I thank everyone who has helped me,” he said. “It hasn’t been easy getting here (as a Hanna senior). Many people have helped me outside of soccer and I thank them along with my family, my teachers and my coaches from soccer.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess