11 minute read
Going Pro
On a Sunday afternoon on her day off, Allison Veloz answers the phone from Aguascalientes, a small town in the heart of Mexico. She’s living in a foreign country for the first time, she doesn’t speak the language, and she’s 1,200 miles from her family in Surprise. “At first I was like, what did I do,” said Veloz emphatically. “But now I feel like this is where I live, and this is where I work. I don’t feel like I am working though. I’m literally just playing soccer. I’ve done this my whole life, and now it’s just paying off.”
Allison is living out her dream of playing professional soccer. She plays for Club Necaxa, a Mexican professional football club with a storied past and bright future. Allison has come a long way from her early days playing for both Kingswood Elementary School and Willow Canyon High School in the Dysart District. Her journey to the professional level has had a series of twists and turns though that she credits with making her the person and player she is today.
Allison started playing soccer at the young age of four growing up in California.
“I’ve been told that when I started walking, I wasn’t walking,” she said with a laugh. “I was just running all the time. So my Dad was like, ‘we need to put her in something.’”
While soccer started out as an activity to keep her young, rambunctious self occupied, it quickly became a passion. When Allison moved to Flagstaff with her family in 4th grade, she started playing club soccer. She did that for two years before moving to Surprise, and attending Kingswood Elementary School. While at Kingswood she played soccer, but also volleyball, softball, and basketball. Apparently she still hadn’t stopped running.
“I actually enjoy playing a lot of sports,” she said. They’re just fun to me.”
It was in high school though that soccer started to become more serious for Veloz. She made the varsity squad at Willow Canyon as a freshman. She recalled freshman year being about breaking the ice, and getting comfortable with the team and level of play.
“I knew I could do better,” she remembers after her first year of high school. “This was fun, but I want to beat all my stats.”
“She was an extremely skilled player,” said Kendra Melbye, Willow Canyon’s Girls Soccer Head Coach. “She’s very fast. She came in very raw, but she was still an extremely talented player. The things that she could do with her speed and the skill she had was very impressive.”
Allison left her mark on the program after her junior season. She achieved eight school records, including most goals in a season (39), most goals in a career (75), and most goals in a game with seven. The latter was her fondest memory from Willow Canyon.
“I remember playing Centennial my junior year, and I scored seven goals in that game,” she beamed. “That was fun. I broke the record of the most points and goals in a game for Willow Canyon that day.”
“Just the speed that she had and the talent and touch that she could do things with the ball, you just couldn’t stop her,” said Melbye. “I mean, in that game, she was just really unstoppable.”
Allison played for three years as a forward, earning accolades at every step of the way. Her first setback in soccer came after that junior season though, when her high school career came to an abrupt end. She was signed to play Division I soccer at a school in California. Back then there was a rule stipulating that she couldn’t play club soccer and high school at the same time. Her future college coach indicated that playing club should be the priority for her development.
““I was devastated at the time,” she recalled. “I cried to Coach Melbye. I was so sad, and I felt like I had a certain amount of responsibility for the team as well. That was a really tough decision for me, but I felt like at the time I had no other way to go, because I was signed to that school and this was the head coach telling me what was best.”
So her senior year Allison played club, and prepared herself for Division I soccer at the collegiate level. But a mere 20 days before the report date, Veloz encountered another devastating blow. The school and coach informed her that her SAT scores were two points shy of the benchmark needed to attend the school. They advised that she go to the junior college right by the school and spend two years there before transferring back to the Division I school. With little time and options, Veloz reluctantly agreed. But the thought of going from a Division I program to a junior college was difficult for her.
“It made me the player I am today, because of how strong you have to be mentally to be at a junior college and come out from that,” she said.
She played at the junior college for two years, working on her game and studies. Troubled by the experience though, Veloz decommitted from the Division I school and began to look for new opportunities. She was getting inquiries from a variety of schools, both DI and DII.
“My goal was always DI. I was not going to sell myself short, I just had to be patient.”
It was about that time that a former coach from California reached out to her. He was now a coach at Northern Arizona University (NAU). They invited her out to a camp and watched her play at the junior college, calling her after every game. And then things just fell into place. NAU offered her a spot. With knowing the coach, having her family in Arizona already, and having a brother who already attended NAU, it felt like the right decision for her. It also satisfied that DI goal.
Veloz played two seasons with NAU. Her first year she played in 20 games, starting in 13 of them. She scored four goals and three assists through the season, including two multi-goal matches coming against Ottawa and Montana.
“My first year there we actually won the Big Sky Conference, and we won the Big Sky Tournament,” she remembers fondly. “I got my ring, which is nice.”
It was during her time at NAU that professional soccer started to become a possibility. Another one of her former coaches who had been following her career reached out. He asked her if she would be interested in playing professionally in Mexico.
“I was like, I need to live out this dream first and just play college,” she remembers. “I have one more year. Just hold that thought because, yes, I do want to play professionally. Of course. But I am going to play my last year at NAU.”
That last year was a memorable one. As a senior, Allison led the Lumberjacks with seven goals and 14 points on the season, in addition to a team-high four game-winning goals. She was named to the Big Sky First Team All-Conference along with Big Sky All-Tournament team honors.
“We won the semifinal game of the Big Sky Tournament against the #1 ranked team, Montana,” she said. “I scored the winning goal to get us to the championship. It was a nice memory.”
After that season, Veloz set her focus on professional soccer. If there is one thing you need to know about Allison, one goal is never enough.
“I feel like you can never settle, and not stay hungry, or else nothing is going to happen,” Veloz said. “If I made it to my dream school and that was the only goal in my head, I feel like that wouldn’t be enough.”
She was able to work out with the Lumberjack squad in the Spring. Players that want to go pro can work out with the team to prepare and train. NAU also helped her with film. She had her contact send the footage, and Allison got four teams interested in having her try out. Club Necaxa was the quickest in inviting her and setting everything up. The tryout went so well that Club Necaxa offered her a contract before she left Aguascalientes. She accepted right away.
After going to California to train and work on her Visa and paperwork, Allison traveled down to Mexico this summer to begin her first season as a professional. Having never lived in another country, it was quite the adjustment for her.
“I don’t know Spanish, so there is a language barrier,” said Veloz. “I’m learning. I’ve been here for three months and I know more. I can get around now. When I first got here I could never go to Walmart on my own.”
At practice, coaches are speaking very fast. But there are two Americans on her team so that has helped with the adjustment. She lives in a residential, gated community but feels like the area is safe.
“You wear Necaxa stuff and people respect you,” she said. “I walk to the club sometimes and people will stop me and want my picture and want my signature. They really respect you around here.”
When Allison is asked if she ever thought she would be a professional soccer player,
“I’ve always gotten told throughout high school, little comments like, ‘when you go pro don’t forget about me,’” she said. “At the time in high school I didn’t feel like I was good enough to go pro. I think over the years of making these teams, I was getting validated team by team of how serious I can take this.”
Now that she’s in her first season of professional soccer, Allison shared that the experience is bringing out the best in her.
“Playing against these pro teams has brought a lot out in me that I didn’t think I could do. It’s pushing me to be the best version of myself, mentally, physically. I’m being surrounded by people who I should be surrounded by, and people who are pushing me. It’s hard sometimes. But I think it’s worth it.”
True to herself and her need to stay hungry, Allison isn’t done yet. “Now that I am here, I feel really good, confident in what I can do for this team, but I do feel like I want to play for a bigger and better team, and excel there as well.”
After her one year contract with Club Necaxa she’ll reevaluate her options. She could continue with the club, seek out another one in Mexico, take her talents to Europe, or even sign with a team in the United States. Her coaches in Mexico want her to play for the Mexico national team, so she is in the process of getting her dual citizenship.
Going from a four-yearold to a professional athlete, Allison has picked up a lot of life lessons along the way, none more important than the mental aspect.
“I think the biggest thing that has helped me is being mentally strong and no matter where you come from or who is supporting you, that you have control of yourself and your goals,” she shared. “Don’t worry about outside factors that might set you back. People have told me, you are not going pro. People have told me, you aren’t going to play Division I in college. Did I listen, no. What they were saying wasn’t true to myself and what I was telling myself. That was somebody else’s opinion. You have to be confident and know that you are in control of your controllables. It’s not about where you go, it’s about your mindset.”
