Davis Is Influenced by European Roots

Ron Davis wonders sometimes what life would be like if his stepfather hadn’t been been stationed in Scotland for three years.

“I don’t know what I’d be doing, probably nothing,” he said with a laugh. “I probably would have played basketball, but you don’t know. I definitely wouldn’t have ever played soccer. I’m thankful all the time that the military took my step dad to Scotland.”

So are those who have had a chance to watch Davis play soccer. He didn’t score or make an assist last Monday at Woodbridge, but every time he touched the ball he was a threat, and something positive happened for El Toro, which is ranked fourth in Orange County.

Woodbridge Coach Jon Szczuka was one of Davis’ admirers.

“He’s going to be a great player,” Szczuka said. “He’s very calm and relaxed with the ball. He shows incredible composure for someone with that kind of speed. It’s scary. He’s going to score a lot of goals for El Toro when he starts finishing more. Hopefully, it’s not against us.”

Davis has scored 13 goals this season, but six of those came in El Toro’s first four games. Until recently, Davis had been slumping and El Toro Coach Bob Chavez let him know about it.

“I had a talk with Ronnie about his work rate,” Chavez said. “If he had the work rate of some of the other kids, he’d be phenomenal. I just think it’s a matter of him maturing.”

Davis said he knew Chavez was right.

“I started to kick back after the first six games,” Davis said. “Maybe I thought that the goals were going to come too easy. Then I realized I was going to have to work as hard as everybody else if I was going to be successful.”

But ever since he began kicking a ball around a Glasgow school yard at age 10, Davis said he’s never had to work as hard as everyone else.

“It felt uncomfortable at first, but that only lasted a couple weeks,” he said. “I had a ball at my feet every day, so I couldn’t help but get better.”

For three years, Davis did nothing but go to school, play soccer and pick up a Scottish accent.

“It took some time to pick up the accent, then I found myself talking like that,” he said.

Although he’s been back in the United States for four years, Davis said his Scottish accent still comes back.

“When I want to, I can talk like that,” he said. “I loved it over there. The people were great. I want to live over there again and I want to play professionally in the European leagues.”

Davis said the faster and more aggressive style of play in Europe helped him make his transition into American soccer.

“I really think it was better that I learned the sport over there,” he said. “I don’t know that I’d be as good as I am now.”

Davis is good enough to be playing for the under-17 Mission Viejo Pateadores, the top club team in Orange County. He was going to be the best player on his high school team at Mission Viejo this year, but Davis decided he didn’t want to be the star, so he transferred to El Toro this summer before his junior season.

“I wasn’t comfortable with our team,” he said. “I didn’t want them to build the team around me. I thought I would benefit more to play with better players.”

Chavez said players such as Wade Fraser and Brian Stucker have helped develop Davis’ game.

“When players have to worry about Brian and Wade, Ronnie doesn’t have as many players on him and he doesn’t have to do it all himself,” Chavez said.

Though occasionally, Chavez said, Davis forgets about his teammates and tries to dribble through three or four defenders.

“Half of the time, he gets away with it,” Chavez said. “But believe me, he gets talked to about that. But a lot of times, Ronnie’s waiting for help. There’s no grass growing under his feet, so he goes. He’s not going to wait for something to happen, so he’ll make something happen.”

Maybe that’s why Davis played point guard when he played basketball on Mission Viejo’s team. He was trying to make something happen. He also was taking a break from soccer.

“I liked basketball, but I had to make a choice between the two sports,” he said. “I decided there are too many good basketball players out there. Soccer is my dominant sport and I’d already put too much time into soccer, so I stuck with it.”