“Linea, pasar, defensa, apurarse.”

Most players move effortlessly with each command. Spanish is the language spoken at home and on the field for a majority of the varsity soccer team — except for one new player who has had to transition to a new school, team, and language.

Junior Josh Kardos, who plays right fullback, found that being a member of the soccer team, while bringing challenges, made his transition from Oakland to Stockton much easier. “I knew more people after I joined,” he said. “They were really nice and the coach was cool.”

Even though it was a relatively easy move, it brought about a challenge that Kardos, whose nickname is “Rooney,” hasn’t faced before. Most of the soccer team speaks Spanish, a language he has never fluently spoken before and he only speaks a few words of it now.
   

 “This is the first time I’ve been on a team where I’m the only one that doesn’t speak Spanish,” Kardos said. This is a disadvantage that has led him to try to pick up on a few phrases to better himself.

Terms that he has had to learn are linea, pasar, and defensa which mean line, pass, and defense. These are terms that are repeated often during matches, making them important for Kardos to learn.

According to coach Jim Marrone, each year there are a few players who don’t speak Spanish, “but the guys do a good job of including them.”
   

One who tries to include everyone is sophomore Bryan Barajas, who plays fullback. “I’m in the back with Josh so if I need him to do something I’ll talk to him in English.”
   

Barajas has also had to make a big transition. He moved to Stockton this year from Athens, Georgia, earning the nickname “Georgia.” 
   

“I didn’t know anything around here,” he said. “It wasn’t until tryouts that I started meeting with the team.”
   

He had also had an easier time transitioning onto the soccer team, which he has played since he was 7-years-old. Barajas understands the idea of hard work.
   

“Practice and conditioning isn’t a punishment,” he said. “It’s cheating yourself, not the team if you don’t condition.”
   

Barajas said that most players “speak in Spanish first then translate to English” so that everyone understands where each other is at and where to move to.
   

To Barajas, this brings the team together and makes them his family.
   

“We give our guys a lot of opportunity of spending time outside of practice,” Marrone said. The team usually uses the time to hang out or go out to eat.
   

Junior Edgar Perez-Chiche says that team bonding makes the team better during games. “We get more comfortable talking and yelling at each other,” he said. “We know when to take each other seriously.”
   

The addition on new players has benefited the team. “We have a great young nucleus,” Marrone said. “A great group of young guys that will be good for the future.”