Daily Pilot High School Male Athlete of the Week: Siemonsma helps Sailors’ turnaround

Chandler Siemonsma likes to help those in need. During his spare time, he volunteers.

A little more than a year ago, he raised money to help buy a homeless woman in Costa Mesa a car. The car provided her shelter, kept her warm at night, and Siemonsma hoped it could someday reunite her with her family.

To this day, Siemonsma still wonders what happened to the woman who was in her 60s. Did she make it to Louisiana?

Other people Siemonsma has not forgotten about are those he met last summer in Zimbabwe. He spent three weeks at an orphanage, at preschools and at old people’s homes.

“The biggest thing that I learned from being in Zimbabwe is obviously being thankful for everything that you’re given, all the opportunities, and that happiness doesn’t come from money, because the people there were extremely happy, extremely thankful, and they have almost nothing,” Siemonsma said. “You learn that happiness comes from the people around you.”

Siemonsma brought home a little bit of Zimbabwe with him.

In his senior year at Newport Harbor High, Siemonsma decided to join his friends and play on the boys’ soccer team for the first time. They always tried to get him to come out the previous three years, knowing he was a talented goalkeeper with the Los Angeles Galaxy Academy program.

Even though his twin sister, Sianna, played for the Newport Harbor girls’ team, Siemonsma never tried out for the school. He still would go to her matches, and he would support the boys as well.

Siemonsma has stopped playing for the Galaxy, and in his first season with the Sailors, his new team is playing out of this world in the Sunset League. He is a big reason for Newport Harbor’s turnaround from last season.

After going winless in league play last season, the Sailors have won their first three matches in league. Last week, they beat Huntington Beach, 2-1, and Marina, 3-0, and on Wednesday, the Sailors upset defending league champion Los Alamitos, 3-2.

While they haven’t lost so far in league, the Sailors suffered a major loss in the form of a player. Siemonsma said he broke his right hand during a collision in the box in the first half at Los Alamitos.

Siemonsma, with his hand all swollen, stayed in. Now his hand is in a soft cast, and he said he has a doctor’s appointment on Friday to find out the severity of the injury and how much time he will miss.

Siemonsma said he would see a hand specialist at 3:30 p.m., 90 minutes before Newport Harbor’s first-place showdown at Edison.

“I’ll be there,” Siemonsma said of the match. “Nothing is for sure, but there’s a possibility I’ll make an appearance on the field.

“It’s definitely hard for anyone having to sit out due to injury, but at the same time I know this is part of the game, and when I come back, I’ll only be stronger.”

Siemonsma has overcome injuries before, like three years ago, when he broke his collarbone with the Galaxy under-15 team.

Siemonsma returned and earned his job back. But his run with the Galaxy would be over in June 2015. He said it ended because of lack of playing time and other personal reasons.

The game Siemonsma had played since 5 was no longer fun for him.

What Siemonsma did not miss was the time commitment. He said he traveled four days a week from Newport Beach to the StubHub Center in Carson, where he trained with the Galaxy. He would get home five hours later.

Siemonsma finds himself on the road again, this time with the Sailors, and he’s enjoying the ride. All of their matches this season are on the road because Davidson Field is undergoing renovations.

“I think we’ve been dealing with it well,” Siemonsma said of the traveling, “but our team always forgets to bring water.”

Lack of hydration wasn’t the reason behind Newport Harbor’s sluggish start to nonleague action. The program hired a new coach in Ali Khosroshahin six weeks before its season opener, and it took some time for the Sailors to forget about last season.

Newport Harbor hiring Khosroshahin, who led the USC women’s soccer program to an NCAA Division I title in 2007, also factored into Siemonsma’s decision to play for the Sailors.

Despite having a successful coach, the Sailors went 0-4-2 in their first six contests. The season began to look a lot like the previous one that ended 2-15-6 overall.

Then the Sailors broke through for the first time. The victory came against Corona del Mar on Dec. 21, five days after rain postponed the Battle of the Bay match between the rival schools.

Khosroshahin downplayed the significance of it, saying the two sides weren’t playing for anything in the final consolation match of the South Orange County Classic at El Toro High. But the result, Newport Harbor winning in penalty kicks, meant something to Siemonsma and the Sailors.

“It doesn’t take much to know our rivalry with them, even though this was my first year playing high school soccer,” Siemonsma said. “I knew going into the game that it was going to be intense.

“That was our first win. I felt like it inspired us. Once we knew what it was like to win, we just wanted more of that.”

Siemonsma hopes he can come back and help the Sailors win again.

Chandler Siemonsma

Born: Dec. 1, 1998

Hometown: Newport Beach

Height: 5-foot-11

Weight: 150 pounds

Sport: Soccer

Year: Senior

Coach: Ali Khosroshahin

Favorite food: Pasta

Favorite movie: “Lone Survivor”

Favorite athletic moment: “Making LA Galaxy Academy.”

Week in review: Siemonsma helped the Sailors start Sunset League 2-0, as they earned a 2-1 win against Huntington Beach and a 3-0 shutout of Marina.