Despite Being Cut, Santa Margarita’s Bamford Is Still Kicking : Soccer: Getting dropped from national team will serve as inspiration for him this season.

Now that the shock of being cut from the U.S. under-20 national select soccer team is wearing off, reality is setting in for Santa Margarita senior John Bamford.

“It will make me work that much harder this year,” Bamford said. “I wasn’t really prepared for being cut. But I know now that I need to work on my quickness, and my confidence with the ball.”

Santa Margarita Coach Curt Bauer wasn’t aware that Bamford needed to work on much.

“John has always been a hard worker in practice,” Bauer said. “He’s by far one of the top two or three players in the county. Maybe (being cut) will give him renewed enthusiasm for the sport, but he’s already pretty tough.”

But apparently not tough enough for U.S. under-20 coach, who decided two weeks ago in Orlando that there were 24 players in Bamford’s age group with more talent. Bamford acknowledged that the coaches probably made the right decision.

“I don’t think I had that good of a tryout,” he said. “It was a good experience. I learned that I have to keep my game up when I’m not playing against that level of competition.

“You go from playing in games where you can make a mistake and still have a good game to where you can’t make any mistakes. It’s also different when you’re the center of attention in high school, to just another player at a higher level.”

Bamford said he only had himself to blame after being cut.

“I wasn’t that disappointed,” he said. “I just know that I rested on my laurels after making the under-18 team. I figured if I made the under-18 team, I was going to make the under-20 team.”

Several college coaches figure Bamford is still good enough to make their team. He is being recruited by Stanford, UCLA, Notre Dame, Harvard, Dartmouth and Princeton.

Despite playing sweeper--a rather low-profile position--Bamford has managed to receive plenty of attention. In addition to being named to the U.S. under-18 team, Bamford was named to the All-Southern Section second team last season.

“You’re never going to get the recognition of a scorer, playing sweeper, but if you do your job, people will notice,” Bamford said.

Bauer said Bamford could be even more noticeable if he wanted to.

“If I played him in the middle or upfront, he’d be one of the top scorers in the county,” Bauer said. “But he plays sweeper because our team needs John in the back to play defense.”

But Bamford came across midfield enough last year to contribute four goals and six assists to Santa Margarita’s Division IV co-championship team. Bamford said he might do even more scoring this year.

“I’ve always kind of liked the idea of playing up front,” he said. “In practice, I do play up there and it’s a lot more fun.”

Bauer said Bamford might find himself playing a forward in certain situations.

“If we ever get down in a game, that will be my first move,” Bauer said. “I’ll slide him on up in practice and he’s tough to stop. We have to double and triple team. He’s got such a low center of gravity that he’s tough to steal the ball from.”

With only three returning starters, Bamford, Seth George and Mike Doria, Bauer said Bamford’s roles will include more than simply scoring and playing defense.

“He’s like my assistant coach,” Bauer said. “He sets the example for everyone else. He now realizes that, ‘This is my team. We’ll go as far I can take us.’ ”

By early indications, that might be pretty far. Sixth-ranked Santa Margarita has won its first three games, knocking off second-ranked Edison, 2-0, Fountain Valley, 4-0, and top-ranked Santa Ana, 2-0.