(Photo by Jason Goorman)
By Nate Thompson
LocalSportsJournal.com
EGELSTON TOWNSHIP – Oakridge senior Arturo Romero-Serrano knows first-hand how a family dynamic can be affected by moving from one country to another. And one day, if his plan comes to fruition, he’d make it his mission to reunite immigrant families with loved ones they left behind.
But before that part of his future comes to light, the Eagles’ dynamic striker has another mission in mind—leading the Oakridge soccer squad to a goal that has eluded them throughout his varsity career: an MHSAA Division 3 Regional Championship.
The four-year varsity standout, who recently returned to action after being knocked out with a painful strained foot injury, is doing his part, as he turned in an absolute blistering stretch of goal-scoring last week. He recorded a total of nine goals — four against Manistee last Monday, and five in a victory against Pentwater last Wednesday — to bring his career total to 99.
Romero-Serrano said he’s well aware of the prestigious milestone of 100, but the century mark is not his main priority.
“The biggest thing for me has always been, how can I help my team win?” Romero-Serrano said. “It’s not my thing to look at goals only. I mean, to me, it feels better to win than to score six goals and have your team lose.”
With the two victories last week, the Eagles closed out the regular season with a 10-7-1 record. Oakridge will host Grant in the opening round of the district tournament on Wednesday.
Romero-Serrano's foot injury, which occurred against Ludington on Sept. 20, knocked him out of action for more than a week. Still, the Eagles have had moments of ups and downs this season, even before their star player’s injury.
“There have been games when we haven’t shown up to play,” Romero-Serrano said. “But there’ve been other games where we’ve felt like we were the better team, but there was just a break or two that didn’t go our way. In districts, if we’re all working forward together, we’re locked in, we feel we’re one of the better teams around.”
Romero-Serrano describes a lot of his uncanny goal-scoring ability as “instincts,” but it may have more than a little to do with natural ability passed down from his father, Arturo Romero-Serrano, Jr. The elder grew up in Mexico and played semi-professional “futbol” before moving his family to West Michigan when Romero-Serrano was entering kindergarten.
“I don’t know exactly why we moved to this area,” he admitted. “My mom (Karina) and dad have just said it was a situation of ‘wherever we landed.’ But job opportunities probably were a big factor.”
Whatever the reason, his teammates and coaches over the years are no doubt very happy that the family ended up in West Michigan.
"Arturo is a special young man in so many ways," Oakridge coach Greg Fleener said. "Obviously, his goal-scoring prowess is easy to take note of. He works non-stop — practice, pre-game, or game — it doesn't matter. He loves to compete. It's a great thing to watch."
The prolific scorer also joined Lakeshore Football Club's 2006 Premier team last Spring and made an immediate impact for the defending State Cup runners-up.
"Arturo, in his first year with Lakeshore FC, was a great addition to the chemistry of our team," Lakeshore FC coach Cory Wendt said. "His talent and work ethic helped get us to a second straight State Cup final. He worked hard all winter and spring to improve his game. Arturo‘s confidence, talent and willingness to learn make him a player any coach would be lucky to have."
While Romero-Serrano soaks up knowledge from his father in a number of areas in the sport, two key traits he’s taken are not relying solely on a dominant foot when shooting on goal, and playing the game with a confidence unmatched by the opposition.
“My dad has been my rock, my mentor,” Romero-Serrano said. “At first, I actually hated (playing soccer), but I eventually learned to love it. Definitely one of the key things I’ve learned from him is being able to shoot with both my right and left foot. Working on my weaker foot enough that I’ve become ambidextrous. It’s such an important skill because being able to score with both feet opens up so much more of a pathway.
“The other key thing is just confidence. My dad is a super confident guy and carried himself that way when he played. And it’s rubbed off on me.”
Now, Romero-Serrano is laser-focused on helping the Eagles defend their district championship and potentially advance past regionals. He’s also pulling double-duty this fall as the place kicker for the Oakridge football team. He’s had a few “Romero-Serrano triple-doubles,” where he’s scored multiple goals in soccer and a field goal or extra points in football during the same week.
“In football, it still amazes me how many people come out to the games,” he said. “The atmosphere is amazing, but at the same time, it’s like, how about we transfer some of those (fans) to soccer? But I must admit, we’ve had some great turnouts in our student section for soccer, so we feel the love.”
The 4.1 grade-point-average student plans to major in business and play college soccer, possibly at the NCAA Division III level. With his degree, Romero-Serrano said he’d love to start a non-profit company that focuses on reuniting immigrant families that have been separated for various reasons.
“It’s hard for me to see situations where families are split apart, especially those that are not as privileged as others," he said. "And being able to see the absolute joy when they’re reunited would be awesome.”
Romero-Serrano said most of his extended family still resides in Mexico, but he’s been fortunate to have his grandparents watch him play on their infrequent visits from to the USA.
“They have been able to come to some important games," he said. "And they told me they were proud of me."
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