Up the 580 from Oakland California is San Pablo, home to San Pablo FC of the newly announced National Soccer League (NSL) Pacific Conference. James Quijano took the time to answer all of our questions about his club…

Your club was recently announced as a part of the newly-formed NSL Pacific Conference, but can you tell us when you were formed and what leagues you have been involved in?
So, the team is full players who I coached. I grew up in Moraga and was exposed to club soccer and played from a young age. These kids were not until I coached them. I coached in the San Pablo area and was lucky enough to have club support and allow them to compete. Prior to that they only played pickup or in school. So the majority of the team is players I coached with birthdates of 1996- 2000. I played with them in adult leagues since 2016, as that’s when they started aging out of youth soccer. That’s our current team. Besides that, one of our players, his father played for San Pablo FC, and we took on that lineage. That team goes back towards the 70’s where the father ran the team and played as well as his own father too.

We were going to be listed as Richmond FC but it worked out for us to be called San Pablo, as it allows us a better range of sponsors and such, mainly because there is no actual soccer in San Pablo. So, the team has been playing in the NorCal Premier league and the as well as the Bay Area Adult Soccer League or BAASL.

The older incarnation was fixture in the San Francisco Football leagues majors and premier divisions, back when that was the top league in Northern California

How did you come up with the name of your club? What does it mean and what do the colors and other elements of your badge represent?
So, I touched on it before, majority of the kids are from Richmond and San Pablo and we chose San Pablo FC, as it would be nice to carry on the history. We took on the name and are continuing onward as that team with their history and so on.

We are able to do what they original group couldn’t and that’s take the next step up in competition.

The colors, red and black, are the colors of the two dominant high schools in the area, De Anza and Richmond high. Most of our players went to those schools. Besides that, we wanted to add the lion, as we see ourselves metaphorically, as lions, kings, on the hunt. Not trying to sound cocky or full of ourselves, because we are humble, but at the same time we know we are good and can and will show it. As well, we put the bay Bridge as it’s a part of neighborhood, we can see it at night in the distance

Some clubs rely on college athletes, some draw from local talent, and some bring players up through a youth program - do you have a youth program and where do you get your players from?
Our initial group, the original 15-20 were players that I brought up from youth soccer (acc Mavericks and Montclair soccer club and FCA) and who played college soccer. They play(ed) at CSU Monterey, San Jose State, UC Davis, Sonoma State, Sac State, Contra Costa College, American River, City College, Merritt and Chabot. We also have a player who is older and played for the famed El Farolito and professionally in El Salvador.

After that we took stock of the team. I didn’t want the boys to think their spots were safe so we ended up holding a tryout that went on instead of four training sessions. We were happy to see there is loads of talent in the area and we were able to access them and offer some of them a spot.

Do you have fans or supporters? A club with your history and pedigree must surely have some people come out to watch your matches - do you make any money by selling tickets or merchandise? Otherwise, how do you finance your club and what tips or advice could you give other teams?
We have a nice fan base, a lot of support. Taking this step up in competition, we went ahead and had shirts made which sold out. And so we made more merchandise and have been lucky they all sold as well. Scarves and shirts and next are hats and sweatshirts.

We knew we’d attract players if they played for free, and we didn’t have a lot of our own money to put in so we do went looking for sponsors.

I came up with an idea that we can get a level of sponsors through tiers. Where a person donate this amount, we do this, they donate more and we give more. My assistant coach is savvy with photoshop and graphics. He cleaned up the list I had and made it look great and we had been sharing it on social media and in person. Numerous business’ in the community donated as well and it’s been keeping us going.

When we joined the league, we went at it with the intention to have a team for us, to play at this level, and took the grassroots level, looking to be a community team. That leaves us without a lot of money to have but it works for us, as we are all in charge. We don’t need to look for a coach as I’m an A’ licensed coach who can coach the game well.

We have talented college and semi-professional players that played together for years and have an advantage over other teams, who have to look and train players.

My advice to other teams is to look towards your communities for sponsorship or donations. They want to get involved, even in this pandemic. Have clear plan for where you would put the money and goals, be it short term and long term - either that or have someone willing to put money in.

Will the NSL compete this year or do you have to wait until next season? Is any soccer happening in California right now? What will success look like in 2021? What are you already looking forward to?
We are hoping to compete this season. It’s looking positive, don’t want to jinx it. We hope to be playing league games end of this month, we may have to play closed games but we can and plan to film and stream games.

The Sacramento, San Joaquin and Modesto areas have been able to have actual games. Those are the teams we have reached out to and will play, while we wait for the all clear from the NSL. I can’t think of anywhere else in the state, which is a shame

Our season is supposed to be Aug 2020-July 2021. And that’s all the way to national finals. Success in 2021 for us is a few things. The major one would be us playing and doing well in the league and cup. It would also be that we have raised money for the 2021-2022 so we can able just focus on the field stuff. And lastly, success for me would be I exposed my players to a high level and they get looked at by some top teams. I always have that in mind. I exposed them to college soccer and was lucky a lot of them went to play and now I hope to expose them to these teams

I’m looking forward to us playing. I have coached some NPSL and UPSL teams. Had some success and had some misses. A few of these players were a part of it at one point or another. But none of us have been together on an adult team this level and we all are looking forward to that, as we have always said that’s what we want. I know we are going to do well and can say we will shake up the league standings. This is a new league with some established teams we have played before so again, we are looking forward to it.