Finding A Way To Focus
There are nights when Miguel Meneses doesn’t get a good sleep. But he figures it’s better to laugh and be tired than to rest and miss the fun.
Meneses, one of the region’s best and most intense soccer players, shares a bedroom with three younger brothers, Alan, Amed and Raul. The four are varsity teammates at Burroughs High, where Miguel recently became the school’s career scoring leader.
As an outside midfielder and his team’s top offensive threat, Miguel expends more energy than that pink bunny with the drum.
But recharging his batteries often takes a back seat to family fun after lights out.
“Every night it’s jokes, jokes, jokes in our room,” Miguel said. “Sometimes you’re really tired and you hit the bed and you’re gone. But if somebody’s laughing, then it’s hard to think about sleep.”
Opposing defenders see little humor in Meneses’ talents and have done their best to knock the 5-foot-7, 145-pound senior off his game.
In less than two months, Meneses has absorbed a head-butt and a punch, an elbow that chipped a tooth and a kick in the face that bloodied his nose and lips.
Such abuse has been commonplace in Meneses’ four-year varsity career.
In past seasons, his angry responses produced scuffles that caught the attention of referees, but he has learned to turn the other cleat.
“They’re expecting me to hit them back, but now I just focus on winning the game,” Meneses said. “Before I would tackle them and maybe get a yellow card, but you don’t win doing that. Scoring a goal, that hurts them more.”
Though he can no longer be called a hothead, Meneses remains an emotional player and a target of taunts and trash-talk.
He has also retained the habit of flopping like a dying fish when fouled near the goal.
“I wince when he does that,” Burroughs Coach Mike Kodama said. “If he can just move away from that kind of stuff, it makes us better. When he responds [by talking or diving], they’ve done their job because he’s not working as hard to score goals.”
Meneses has 40 goals and 40 assists, the latter a Burroughs career record. He also is the school career leader in consecutive games with 70 and set an Indian record this season by recording a goal or an assist in 13 consecutive games.
Meneses’ strengths are a quick first step and the ability to shoot well with either foot.
“Teams have to watch him at all times,” said Kodama, whose favorite Meneses play is a 50-yard shot his star lofted over a startled Saugus goalkeeper and into the net last season.
“He’s a marked man this year, but if you put someone physical on him, that guy better be fast and patient and have a lot of concentration,” Kodama said. “Miguel’s also become real patient with double- and triple-teaming and lets it open up space for other people.”
It is Meneses’ improved team play that most impresses Saugus Coach Nate Wright.
“This year, more than any other, [Burroughs] centers their attack around him, but he’s an unselfish player,” Wright said. “He’s silent for a long time and then he’s suddenly at the top of your penalty area doing his work.
“Some players want to touch the ball a lot and never be a decoy. But he makes some quality passes and he’s not going to demand the ball and try to do it all himself.”
Meneses’ ability is remarkable considering he was introduced to soccer seven years ago when he moved to Burbank from his native Mexico City with his mother and four brothers.
He has made up for lost time by constantly playing with his siblings, including older brother Daniel, a former Burroughs and Mexican professional player who once coached his younger brothers on an American Youth Soccer Organization team.
“I get more excited playing with my brothers,” Miguel said. “And it’s a special feeling when my mom can come and see us play and cheer for us all.”
Meneses is striving to be the first in his family to attend college. Kodama hopes to place him at a Cal State university or a junior college for next season.
“He has a high work rate and a very high desire to succeed,” Kodama said. “That’s what made him a player as a freshman and his skills have developed as he’s gotten older. He needs to start that cycle over again in college.”
Perhaps in a dorm room, Meneses will get more sleep.
