McALLEN — As the 2021 UIL athletic year ended, high school athletes from around the Rio Grande Valley transitioned into the offseason, seeking different ways to refine their skills. Football players flocked to 7-on-7 tournaments and skill camps, while baseball, basketball and volleyball athletes competed in summer leagues or hit the road with their respective travel teams.
That’s a question Hidalgo Pirates boys soccer head coach Esequiel “Zeke” Morales asked himself.
“Since coaching high school soccer, there really has not been a venue dedicated in serving our local junior high and high school soccer players, especially in the offseason,” said Morales, who has served as head coach of the Pirates for the past 16 years. “Many local associations focus on teams in either the under-12 age group bracket or players over the age of 20. There was simply a gap in the 14to 18-year-old age group.”
With that in mind, Morales, along with local businessman Paul Treviño, approached the city of McAllen with a solution, hoping to partner with the city and use its parks to form a league for the RGV’s high school soccer players to grow and refine their game during the offseason.
“It was just a matter of coming together,” Treviño said. “I’m a businessman. I’ve been in business here in McAllen for the past 20 years. So, it was just us joining our strengths. His (Morales) strength being coaching and knowing all the coaches, my strength being business. Then kind of melting it together so we can create something fruitful for these kids.”
The RGV Area Soccer Association, or RASA for short, kicked off its inaugural season April 20.
RASA received a positive response during its first season, with 12 teams registering to compete in each the boys’ and girls’ leagues.
Though not directly affiliated with the University Interscholastic League, most teams don their school colors and logos on the field, unofficially representing their campus. Still, players are not limited on who they play with, with players from different schools able to team up and form their own club.
Each team played 11 games during the regular season, with the top eight advancing to the postseason tournament.
The league wrapped up its season Tuesday, with Donna North and McAllen Memorial emerging as champions in the boys and girls leagues, respectively.
For Treviño though, the league isn’t about winning or losing, focusing instead on giving the kids the tools to improve their game and serve as a stepping stone for those who dream of playing past high school.
“It’s really for them to develop in their high school,” Treviño said. “We want to give them a vehicle so hopefully they can maybe advance to the next level of play or maybe use their talents to go get scholarships to go to college.”
RASA is set to kick off its fall season Tuesday, with teams from Brownsville and Valley View verbally committing to compete in the upcoming campaign. The season will run through November, ending just weeks prior to the start of the UIL soccer season.