5 minute read
"My world is soccer"
Michelle Oakes has soccer in her blood and it shows on the field
Alina Popov / Roundup
The Pierce College forward for the women’s soccer team didn’t follow in her mother’s footsteps.
Michelle Oakes, 20, or simply Misha as she is called by her family, friends and teammates, is the youngest of six siblings.
“We weren’t raised like little princesses,” said Oakes, the daughter of a cheerleader.
A year her senior is her sister Katie Oakes, an art history major at the University of California, Berkeley and captain of Berkeley’s women’s soccer team.
Jill Oakes, 24, was a captain of the UCLA women’s soccer team and just finished her first season as a professional soccer player for the Chicago Red Stars.
“I admire my sisters very much,” Oakes said. “They kind of inspire me to play soccer and keep it going.”
Michelle Oakes joined the American Youth Soccer Organization when she was four years old.
At age 12 she moved to the high-level competitive club West Valley Samba, now called Real So Cal Soccer Club. Coincidentally, her coach was Adolfo Perez, the current head coach of the women’s soccer team at Pierce.
She played six years of club soccer for W. V. Samba with Perez as well as Real So Cal with Kristy Walker.
Oakes was named First Team All-City for three years in a row and Daily News Second Team All-City. She contributed to four consecutive city championships and was named Offensive MVP in her high school senior year at El Camino Real, leading with 19 goals and 12 assists.
She recalls her high school years as the “hardest time.” In addition to her daily school routine, she had to commit herself to two practices a day with her school team and then her club.
On top of that, she took a retail job to save money to fulfill her dream of going to the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Her sister Krissy Oakes, 27, who currently pursues her career as an actress in New York, was studying performing arts and theater at the school. She used to play soccer as well and scored 219 goals during high school.
Oakes visited Santa Barbara while a freshman in high school and “actually fell in love with the city.”
Unfortunately, she didn’t get into UCSB. To follow her dream of living in her “ideal city,” she decided to enroll in Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) instead.
While there, she was recognized as part of Western State Conference Women’s 1st Team.
At that time, being overwhelmed with classes, practice and financial responsibilities, she was not even sure if she wanted to pursue soccer any longer.
After a pressure-filled year, she decided to move back home and to sort her priorities.
“Soccer kind of just falls into my lap. It fits into my lifestyle,” she said.
That brought her to Pierce.
“She is very talented on the field...one of the best players ever to wear a Pierce jersey,” Perez said.
While she is the recognized leader, she is so modest that Perez calls her a “humble star” who has earned the respect of her team.
He recalls a recent game in which Oakes scored two goals out of nine.
“I even told her she could have kept scoring more goals,” Perez said. “But she goes, ‘No, I want the other girls to score.’”
“She is really modest and she is really a humble person,” said teammate Rachel Kove. ”She doesn’t want the attention that she is getting.”
“It’s such a joy to watch her play because she is so clean with the ball,” Kove said. “It’s like there is no pressure in the world; everything is just done so smoothly and without an effort.”
Oakes says she has no stress or worry before each game because it’s all just “muscle memory.”
She has found herself at a crossroad. She has lots of dreams, which makes it so hard to follow one, she said.
“I am 20. I definitely feel like a senior on the team…. I am ready to transfer, I am ready to go. I plan on making this decision soon what my major would be,” she said.
She is interested in business and communications as well as advertising and marketing.
She has “a thing for design,” too. According to Oakes, she dreams of having her own fashion jeans, bathing suit or lingerie line one day.
She also keeps her options open to moving toward playing soccer professionally.
“My world is soccer. I look forward and I see my sisters,” Oakes said.
Perez believes Michelle Oakes is “the most creative” of all her sisters and predicts a bright future ahead of her.
“The only thing that really stops her is herself,” Perez said. “There are very few teams that have a player that can stop her.”
Oakes dreams of transferring to Pepperdine University in the coming spring or fall.
“I love school by the beach,” Oakes exclaimed. “There is nothing better!”
“The people there really support me in playing soccer, come to games, and really care about me staying involved in soccer,” she said.
She loves visiting her sister Angie, 33, and playing with her two nieces Lily, 7, and Gwen, 5. She can’t wait for her brother Mike, 26, who is in the Air Force, to return home safe from Iraq.
This season had a great start for the team and Oakes. She has scored seven goals already, with three goals against the Raiders of Moorpark College in one preseason game.
“We have very high expectations as long as we keep high standards for ourselves and for the team and stay focused,” she said. “I believe we will be number one this season.”
