In April, 2017, coach Padilia's life took a dramatic turn.  His newly formed competitive team was preparing to play their first competitive game, when tragedy struck Padilia.  He was involved in a serious automobile accident.  Padilia sustained life threatening injuries, consisting of a broken pelvis, spinal injuries, fractured face, mouth having to be wired shut, and his right leg was amputated.  This all resulted in Padilia to remain hospitalized for two months.

For most people, when leaving a hospitable after such serious injuries, and having their life dramatically altered with the lost of the leg, they are focused on rehab.  This was not true for Padilia, his thoughts were centered on how is teams were doing, and he made a point to go see them, the day after being released from the hospital.

Padilia was not to be stopped, he attended his teams games, and worked on resuming his duties as a referee and referee instructor.  Padilia has dedicated his life to his teams, and the game of soccer.  He is to be highly acclaimed for what he as fought through, to be remained involved in soccer, giving all that he has.

Coach  Hector Padilia is an extraordinary coach, in his love of the game, his dedication to his players, and his determination to be part of the soccer environment for training young players.  Coach Padilia began coaching recreational teams at the age of 18, and migrated to competitive coaching.  In fall, 2016, Padilia found time to help his brother with his recreational team, who placed 4th at District Cup. Players from this team elected to play competitive soccer in 2017.  Padilia is also an assistant coach, at his former high school, where he coached a team of boys, who graduated in 2017.  Coach Padilia has been very busy over the years.   He coached a U10G team for years, who were in the U15G  bracket, in 2017.  He and the team grew-up together, in soccer.

A dynamic young U10 girls team from the Stockton Youth Soccer League fought their way to the top of the tournament group, to win the title of the best team in the 2017, U9-U12 State Cup tournament, for U10 girls.  The team was coached by Luis Lopez, and their team name was the 'Dragons'.  They played against teams from all over Norther California, all vying for the top spot.

In the first game that the Dragons played, they squeaked by with a 3-2 win.  This lit the team fire and the Dragon roared.  In their 2nd game they won by the score of 7 - 0 .  They were starting to fly high.  The Dragons were not about to return to earth in their third game, they still wanted to soar.  They handily won the third game by 11 - 0.  Their objective, the championship game, was not in sight.  In the championship game, they faced another team that was also seeking its' dreams, and both teams battled.  The Dragons managed to contain their rivals and achieve a 3 - 0 victory.

Congratulations to these young ladies for putting on a showcase for their talent and rising to be the Cal North, U10G - State Cup Champions, recreational division, for Northern California.

District News

The newly formed competitive team that Padilia coached, the U11B, Oakdale Gunners, played with the determination of their coach.  With four months of playing as a competitive team in 2017, they took 2nd place in a Santa Cruz tournament, and won the Standford Summer Classic.