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There have been many words used to describe San Francisco Glens SC player and youth coach Stephen Cordova\u2014\u201ccerebral,\u201d \u201chard-working,\u201d \u201crole model,\u201d \u201cleader.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there is one word used by most everyone: loyal.<\/p>\n
A San Francisco native and son of a Salvadoran father and French-Canadian mother, Cordova was a standout soccer player at Burton High School and has been involved with helping grow the soccer scene in San Francisco since 2010, when he joined the San Francisco Glens as both a player for its \u201cfirst team\u201d and a youth coach for the club\u2019s youth league, SF Glens Evolution.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really just can\u2019t get much more ingrained in the soccer community than Steve,\u201d said J. Ramon Estevez, president and general manager of the Glens Premier Development League\u00a0 <\/span>first team and executive director of club operations for SF Glens Evolution.<\/p>\n Cordova not only coaches multiple Glens youth teams, but works as an assistant coach at Skyline College and St. Ignatius High school, where his St. Ignatius varsity team won the Division I NorCal title this year and can boast it is ranked fourth in the nation.<\/p>\n If he were the type to do so, Cordova could also boast about becoming the Glens first Premier Development League signing back in March.<\/p>\n Gabe Saucedo, the man who originally scouted a 17-year-old Cordova to play for him at City College of San Francisco (CCSF), called Cordova, \u201csmart, athletic and powerful,\u201d and \u201can explosive player that makes good runs.\u201d<\/p>\n Saucedo is now head coach at Skyline College and an assistant coach with the SF Glens first team. He is also Cordova\u2019s boss at Skyline and coach when Cordova plays for the Glens.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is a player that is capable of doing whatever he wants,\u201d said Saucedo.<\/p>\n Despite this, the 30-year-old Cordova isn\u2019t trying to go pro. He has a different goal in mind now.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanna build up kids from San Francisco,\u201d said Cordova. \u201cI came from San Francisco. I grew up playing and represented San Francisco at different levels.\u201d<\/p>\n Cordova claims that when he was younger, the city lacked the necessary infrastructure and resources to support a soccer community. As a result, many good players might have been missed because they weren\u2019t aware of their options or of different teams to play on.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really just trying to guide kids,\u201d said Cordova. \u201cThat\u2019s what I remember the most, is that I wish I had a little bit more guidance. If I would have met Gabe [Saucedo] in high school and he would have put into my mind, soccer and college and try[ing] harder in school, it probably would have worked.\u201d<\/p>\n The SF Glens\u2014who compete in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), a development branch of United Soccer Leagues\u2014are currently vying to fill the soccer development vacuum in San Francisco.<\/p>\n Thanks to their merger with Evolution SC in 2015, the Glens now have the largest number of youth teams across the Bay Area. There are more than 80 Glens Evolution youth teams, from youth recreation squads to U.S. Development Academy U-12 squads. The club also has more than 1,500 players according to its website.<\/p>\n Estevez, the club\u2019s president, shared in an email that about half the club\u2019s players identify as Latino or as a minority.<\/p>\n Estevez is Latino, as is Javier Ayala-Hil, the club\u2019s first coach. In making Cordova their first signing, the Glens have found the natural link from their academy and youth programs to their first team.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no better candidate to symbolize a bridge between the youth club and what we want this new PDL franchise to be, than Steve,\u201d said Estevez.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s born and raised in San Francisco and has the credibility of someone who has lived the soccer experience here,\u201d Estevez continued. \u201cHe was a top player in the city at a young age, so he has the respect of his fellow players, both young and old. As a coach, he\u2019s been with the Glens … Evolution since its inception in 2010. He\u2019s been a big part of the club growing from four recreational teams to 80.\u201d<\/p>\n Cordova\u2019s playing exploits have captured the imaginations of the young players under his care, who regularly go out to their coach\u2019s games to cheer him on.<\/p>\n For the Glens\u2019 home opener at Boxer Field, a full row of young players congregated close to the home team bench, hoping to wish their coach luck and see him in action. All but one had played under Cordova.<\/p>\n Estevez shared that some families had travelled as far as San Diego to support the player-coach for his away games. \u201cHe\u2019s built genuine connections with these families. That\u2019s how beloved and respected he is by the greater Glens community,\u201d said Estevez.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope the PDL franchise can also serve as inspiration for kids throughout San Francisco and the surrounding communities.\u201d<\/p>\n The Glens might be seeing the fruits of their labors already. Two academy products will be training with powerhouse Scottish champion Celtic FC thanks to an official partnership between the two clubs.<\/p>\n The club also made Adrian Medina, a product of its partnership with Bay City FC, the first player to be signed from the Glens\u2019 youth club to the PDL first team.<\/p>\n For Cordova, a man who has the stated goal of \u201ctrying to build a soccer culture in San Francisco,\u201d these are important first steps toward a professional club in the City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [su_carousel source=”media: 38557,38558,38559,38560″ limit=”65″ link=”lightbox” width=”800″ height=”540″ responsive=”no” items=”1″] There have been many words used to describe San Francisco Glens SC player and youth coach Stephen Cordova\u2014\u201ccerebral,\u201d \u201chard-working,\u201d \u201crole model,\u201d \u201cleader.\u201d But there is one word used by most everyone: loyal. A San Francisco native and son of a Salvadoran father and French-Canadian mother, Cordova […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":38560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[16908,16910,16906],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-38556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-en","tag-san-francisco-glens-sc","tag-sf-glens-evolution","tag-stephen-cordova","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n