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Lisa Nañez talks to her dad Tony after the CyberRays beat the Carolina Courage at Spartan Stadium on Father's Day.
Photograph by Paul Myers
Her 'Ray Job
Local product Lisa Nañez helps kick off professional soccer league for women
By Rebecca Ray
As a young girl playing soccer, Lisa Nañez never dreamed she'd become a pro athlete, competing in front of a hometown crowd. She just focused on how much she enjoyed the game. Today, the Los Gatos native is a defender for the Bay Area CyberRays, a professional women's soccer team. The CyberRays practices at West Valley College in Saratoga and plays its home games at San Jose State University's Spartan Stadium.
The CyberRays is one of eight teams that make up the Women's United Soccer Association, which began its inaugural season in April.
"It's incredible to be playing with the best soccer players in the world," said Nañez, 24. She plays with such world-renowned players as South Bay native Brandi Chastain and Brazilian players Katia Cilene da Silva Teixeira and Sisleide do Amor Lima, whom fans know as "Katia" and "Sissi." "I feel honored having [them] on my side. Every day, I learn something new from them."
Nañez said that playing in front of her family and friends was "very exciting"--the CyberRays won home games this year against the Carolina Courage on Mother's Day and Father's Day.
Photograph by Mark Kocina
Lisa Nañez signs an autograph for a young fan after the CyberRays shut out the Carolina Courage 2-0 at Spartan Stadium.
Spartan Stadium is also familiar terrain for Nañez, and not just because she grew up nearby. She played at the stadium--a place she now describes as "a very relaxing atmosphere"-- when her college team, the Santa Clara University Broncos, played against San Jose State.
Nañez, who was born in Santa Clara, has lived in Los Gatos her whole life. Since she was about 5 years old, she has played soccer for local girls' and co-ed teams. Although she also played softball and ran track when she was growing up, soccer was her main sport.
"I love playing a sport that's team-oriented," she said. "I love the competitiveness of it." She added that she loved being challenged and meeting those challenges. Soccer also helped her make lots of friends, Nañez said, and that, even when her team lost she and her teammates were bought closer together.
Photograph courtesy of the Nanez family
Lisa Nañez played for the Los Gatos Select Soccer League, which required tryouts, when she was 8 years old.
Nañez, who attended Blossom Hill Elementary and Fisher Middle Schools in Los Gatos, starred on the soccer team at Los Gatos High School. In 1993, she was named the all-county team's Sophomore of the Year. A year later, the San Jose Mercury News named her the California Coast Section Girls Soccer Player of the Year. As a senior, Nañez and the Wildcats shut out Leigh High School 3-0 to become the Central Coast Section champions.
The Santa Clara University women's soccer team went to the NCAA Final Four each year Nañez played for the team. She made second team All-West Coast Conference for two consecutive years. In 1995, the Broncos named her its Rookie of the Year, and during her junior and senior years, the team named her its Defensive Player of the Year. As a sophomore, she won the Coach's Award.
Chastain, the CyberRays' captain, coached Nañez when Chastain was the assistant coach of the women's soccer team at Santa Clara University. "I'm quite impressed and enthusiastic about the way she's grown as a player," Chastain said about Nañez. "I truly enjoy having her as a teammate not only on the field, but off the field, as well."
Nañez has also achieved success playing for club teams. In 1994, she and CyberRays teammate Kim Clark, who attended Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, played for the De Anza Magic, which placed as the under-17 national champions. In college, during the off-season, Nañez played for the Silicon Valley Red Devils and the Sacramento Storm of the Women's Premier Soccer League. She was commuting to Storm games on weekends when the CyberRays drafted her in December 2000.
Photograph courtesy of the Nanez family
Lisa Nañez began playing soccer at age 5, when she was one of four girls in the Police Athletic League who were placed on boys' teams.
On weekdays, Nañez was a substitute teacher for the Los Gatos Union and Union elementary school districts. She received her emergency credential after she was graduated from Santa Clara University in fall 1999, and began teaching in fall 2000. Although she was graduated from college with a bachelor of arts degree in communications, with an emphasis in journalism, she decided to teach because she loved working with children.
"I love just going into that class and being a role model, and going in there and helping them with whatever they have to do that day--if they have a problem, I love helping them solve it," Nañez said. "It makes me feel good seeing smiles on their faces and helping them get through something they're having trouble with. And I love being around them, because of their energy."
Nañez was exposed to the teaching profession her entire life--her mother, Linda, teaches first grade at Louise Van Meter Elementary School in Los Gatos. Nañez has even taught her mother's class. One of Linda's students, Ayrton Ostley, made a card for Nañez that said, "You're playing the game and playing the best. Keep believing in yourself and forget about the rest. Dear Lisa, I hope you will win the next game. I had a dream that you won the game last time. Sincerely, Ayrton."
Nañez experienced a sense of deja vu at one of her first jobs, which was at Fisher, where she used to be a student. "Just walking in there brought back so many memories," she said. "I don't think [Fisher has] changed one bit. It was weird, at first, but after my first few times there, I got used to it."
Photograph by Mark Kocina
Lisa Nañez takes a kick at the ball during a CyberRays' home game against the Carolina Courage.
Nañez stopped teaching when the CyberRays' season began. Her students knew she played soccer, Nañez said, but didn't know the extent of her professional status--they were more surprised by how young she looked and often asked her age. She said she hopes to continue her teaching career, after the CyberRays' season ends in August.
Nañez also expressed a desire to continue playing for the Mexican national team. She played for that team when it competed for the 1999 World Cup. The team trains and plays games and tournaments year-round.
Nañez joined the Mexican national team when the coach, Leonardo Cuèllar, wanted to strengthen it by adding Mexican-American players. Nañez was eligible to join because she had acquired dual citizenship.
She and her father Tony became Mexican citizens a few years ago, when they traveled to Mexico City and completed the necessary paperwork. She joined the team not just because it gave her the opportunity to play for the Cup, but because she thought it would be an honor to play for the country of her heritage.
Photograph by Mark Kocina
Lisa Nañez (third from left) enjoys dinner from her family's favorite restaurant, Andale's, in Los Gatos, with her family (from left to right): brother Nick, mother Linda, aunt Dorothy Stromberg, father Tony, and uncle Ed Stromberg. Nañez lives with her parents in Los Gatos.
Although Nañez had thought of playing on the talented U.S. team, she never did, because she never had the opportunity, she said.
Nañez was one of only a few Mexican-American players on the Mexican national team, and the only Spanish she'd been exposed to was four years of high school Spanish. She learned soccer drills by watching Cuèllar and her teammates do them, because she didn't understand every word they spoke.
She still enjoyed "just being around that culture and being taught that different language," she said. Nañez was one of several players profiled in a story on women's professional soccer in the June issue of Hispanic magazine.
Photograph courtesy of the Nañez family
As a member of the Mexican national team, Lisa Nañez played against Brazil in New York/New Jersey Giants Stadium at the 1999 World Cup. Nañez and her father Tony became Mexican citizens a few years ago and retain dual citizenship.
Even though the Mexican national team didn't make it past the first round of the World Cup, Nañez said that playing for the team "was a wonderful experience."
Nañez went in shock when she first heard talk of a professional women's league in the United States. When the date for the opening games was set for April 2001, she anxiously awaited it.
In May 2000, shortly after the league was founded, each team in the Women's United Soccer Association acquired three of 24 "founding players." Twenty of these players were from the 1999 U.S. World Cup Team, while the remaining four were from the U.S. National Team pool.
Photograph courtesy of the Nanez family
Lisa Nañez played on the girls' varsity soccer team during her four years at Los Gatos High School. When she was in ninth grade, she was the only freshman to play on the team. In 1994, the San Jose Mercury News named her the California Coast Section Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
The CyberRays acquired two more players from a foreign-player-allocation draft in October, then picked up Nañez and 14 other players from a global draft on Dec. 10 and 11. The team drafted more players, and then cut the roster to 20 before the first game.
Right now, the team is focused on making the playoffs in August. The team, which opened the season 1-4-1, is now 4-4-3 and in fourth place. Although making the playoffs is the team's long-term goal, the CyberRays is focusing more on its short-term goals--improving each day and concentrating on one game at a time, said Nañez, who has started for most of the team's games.
CyberRays goalkeeper and South Bay native Janine Szpara said that Nañez is "very composed and solid. You know you can count on her when it comes to crunch time."
Lisa Nañez receives a hug and a towel over her head from teammate Katia, after a CyberRays victory at Spartan Stadium. Nañez played against Katia at the 1999 World Cup, when Mexico played Brazil.
Photograph by Mark Kocina
Szpara and CyberRays goalkeeper Jen Mead added that Nañez provides a great presence in the backfield.
"Lisa's a very combative player," CyberRays head coach Ian Sawyers said. "She's very physical." Sawyers added that one thing he wanted on his team was a backbone of hardworking players, and that Nañez was the "quintessential professional"--she came to practice every day with a positive attitude, to learn her craft and be successful.
Similarly, CyberRays midfielder and defender Carey Dorn described Nañez as "very intense."
Nañez sees herself differently. "I'm a very easygoing person," she said. She added that she enjoys lying in the sun by the pool, shopping and spending time with her friends and family members. She still lives in Los Gatos with her parents. Her brother, Nick, 26, is a firefighter in Millbrae.
Photograph courtesy of the Nañez family
(From left) An unidentified person, Barb Almaraz, Lisa Nañez and Susie Moira, who are all Mexican-American, played for the 1999 Mexican national team, which competed at the World Cup.
"Right now, it's nice not having to pay rent and having home-cooked meals," Nañez said. She hopes, however, to move out soon and find a place with her friends. Players in the Women's United Soccer Association earn between $28,000 and $50,000 annually, according to Linda Nañez.
Nañez said the team has garnered great support at its home games, so far. "We would definitely like a sold-out stadium, but I think every fan, every person who comes to support us is awesome, and I feel [the league] will do well," she said.
When asked about her future in soccer, Nañez said she didn't look that far ahead. "I'm just enjoying my time, right now, playing," she said. "I think I'll do it for a little while longer, if my body holds up. But I'm really enjoying it, so I wouldn't ask for anything more right now."
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
