Soccer is as much a pastime in El Salvador as baseball is in the United States, so when a 4-year-old boy began kicking around the pellet, no one could have imagined that he would lead an Arkansas high school soccer team to back-to-back state titles.
Fast-forward 15 years and more than 1,500 miles, and Hot Springs senior Erick Guadron held aloft his second consecutive MVP plaque after leading the Trojans to a 3-1 victory over the De Queen Leopards in the Class 5A finals May 20 in Fayetteville.
The 19-year-old striker moved to Arkansas as an eighth-grader five years ago, but his parents had moved here many years before.
"It was hard to me when I was little," he said. "My mom and dad, they had to leave me there with my sister to come to the U.S. to make a better future and a better life for me. It was hard to live there without my parents."
Erick believes that those tribulations led to "something good now."
"They were really happy (for me) graduating high school," he said. "They were excited and very happy to see me go to college -- to see the first in my family go to college."
His success has come from hard work in a sport that is bigger for Guadron than most Arkansas.
"Soccer is everything to me," he said. "I think to play soccer and score a goal is not something that just comes to me. It's a process. I've been training very hard for a long time. To get here, it was hard for me."
Erick's secret to success is simple: "Working hard every day makes you a success."
"I've been working a long time, trying every day," he said. "When you work every day, you get better. If you don't work, ... you don't get better. All I do is keep training each day and work and get better each game. If I don't score, I work weekends and get better for the next game."
Trojan head coach Cory Sturdivant recalled that several times during the summer, he would notice Erick continuing to work out and practice after football.
"He's one of a kind," he said. "I can remember several times that I would leave football practice ... and he'd be on our upstairs practice field working out or running or doing crunches and stuff. That's just not something that you see out of a whole lot of kids on summer break. He's definitely a competitor and someone that just wants to get better all the time. You can just tell that he's super passionate about what he does, very focused."
His efforts have clearly paid off. Setting multiple state records, Guadron has been on the all-state soccer team in four varsity seasons, earned the Class 5A MVP award as a junior and season, made the all-star team two years and set 5A state soccer finals MVP his junior and senior years and was on the All-Star team two years.
As a freshman, Guadron scored 49 goals, bettering the single-season scoring record set the previous year, although Central Arkansas Christian's Eric Bentley, with extra games in the state tournament, finished with 50.
This year, Erick scored a single-season record 51 goals, boosting his career scoring record from last season to 187.
"It's a nice feeling," he said of his historic career. "It feels really nice to score 187 goals in four years in high school. I don't have words to describe it."
A four-year starter for the Trojans, Erick has had several opportunities that have helped him succeed on the field.
"He's been playing forward since the get-go," Sturdivant said. "We had a couple of really good seniors his freshman year -- one in the goal and one in the midfield -- that could feed him a steady supply of good passes. He started off on offense then. To came in as a ninth-grader and score 49, that's unheard of out of a ninth-grader."
While Erick's freshman, junior and senior years saw him scoring more than 40 goals, he scored "only" 39 as a sophomore.
"He also had 12 assists," noted Sturdivant. "He could have had a really good chance to score, but he opted to be unselfish and let the other guy at forward with him make those plays. To me, 38 goals and 12 assists are just as good as 49 and 51. His freshman year, we only played with him as the lone forward. His sophomore year, we transitioned to playing two up top, and we've played that way ever since. It was just a transition. He could have easily scored those other goals. We had two people there, and he just made 12 great plays to ensure that we scored."
About his career, Guadron said, "From my freshman year to my senior year, I've scored a lot of goals. I think I'll remember every one. I'm going to remember a lot of goals all my life."
Getting the ball in the net is his goal every time, mattering not whether off a free kick, an assist, a solo shot or a penalty kick: "The score -- that's what makes me happy."
"When I play and when I go on the field, I focus on the score," he said. "No matter how, you see the ball inside the goal, and that's my goal every game. When you play, you have to score to win the game."
Erick has also stepped up as a leader for the Trojans, willing to pass or score.
"Over the course of his sophomore through his senior years, the kids have really bought into the message that this is a family and everyone is accountable to their family," Sturdivant said. "He encourages in practice. Our kids know he's been a focal point of the offense, but just like in the championship game, he took it all the way to the touch-line and played that beautiful cross to Johnny (Gonzales-Vasquez). He has a knack for finding where he needs to be and helping get his team in the best position possible."
With high school behind him, Erick's next step is playing at Yavapai College, a junior college in Prescott, Ariz. He learned about the school from a friend who coaches at the University of Central Arkansas.
"He told me they have a really great soccer program there," Guadron said. "He told me to see if I could go all the way to Arizona and play in college. I was very happy for the opportunity, and I'm ready to go there."
Many former students from Yavapai have gone on to make names for themselves in professional soccer, including Alan Gordon of L.A. Galaxy, Roger Espinoza of Sporting Kansas City and Justim Meram of the Columbus Crew. That also appealed to Erick.
"One of the most important things about why I chose Yavapai College is because they have a great soccer program," he said. "They have professional coaches that go to see the players at Yavapai College. After they finish college, they go play professionally. I think that is one of the most important things for me because after my college, if I do really good in college like I did in high school, maybe one of the coaches can call me, pick me out and give me the opportunity to play professionally."
Sturdivant anticipates that Erick will play forward for the Roughriders.
"I've talked to the coach over the season," he said. "He's kept up with Erick and what he's been able to do. We've sent him video clips and stuff like that. The team record out there in the time they've had soccer over the last 20 years speaks for itself, and I think he fits the mold of the kids they're looking for. Someone that can come in and immediately change the game. That's the kind of kid he is."
Erick's dream is to play on the professional level, but he knows that now is not the time to relax.
"I wish to begin here in the U.S. playing MLS," he said. "That's what I dream, but I'll see what God has for me. It's just a dream. It's not going to be easy, but not impossible if I keep working hard."
Sports on 05/28/2017