Stepdad gets kick out of stepdaughter’s success

When an athlete learns under a trainer for many years, it is not be a surprise that they play similarly. That was not the case for Terrebonne Lady Tiger senior soccer player Jessica Herradon and her stepfather, Juan Trejo, her trainer and first-year Tigers boys’ soccer coach.

“I never scored in my life in the pro leagues,” said Trejo, a former five-year professional player on the Mexican first division league team, Rayados. He also spent two years on a second division team in his hometown of Monterrey.

Conversely, Herradon became the Lady Tigers’ all-time goals scored leader after a six-goal performance Dec. 2 against E.D. White in a 6-0 win. Her 161 career goals surpassed the old record of 152 set by Candice Champagne in 2007.

“I couldn’t have achieved the record without the play of the rest of my team,” Herradon said. “I give most of the credit to the midfielders and defenders. They make great assists, putting the ball in a position where I can score.”

Seventeen-year-old Herradon has 34 goals through 12 games this season. Despite her scoring prowess, she does not consider shooting on goal to be the best aspect of her game.

“My strongest quality is dribbling. I get the ball up the field pretty quickly,” she said. “I’m not really strong at shooting, but I get by the defenders.”

“If you give Jessica space, she will take it,” Trejo said. “I can’t believe the strategy some of the opposing coaches try. When she played E. D. White, that was the most stupid game I’ve ever seen in my life. They moved their defense away from the midfield. That left a big hole of 40, 50 yards between Jessica and the goalkeeper.”

Games like that is one of the reasons Trejo decided to leave the Thibodaux Tigers boys’ team he had coached the previous three seasons to apply for the Terrebonne job. He wanted to see Herradon play high school games.

“I have never been around Jessica during her high school program,” he said. “This is her last year, and I want to be around because when she goes to college, I probably won’t be able to see her play.”

Trejo, 50, has been training Herradon since she was nine. He also coached her from 2004 to this spring when she played for Houma-Terrebonne Soccer Association teams.

After having her stepfather at her HTSA games, Herradon admits it was strange not having him around for most of her Terrebonne Tiger career.

“It’s not so much that I missed him. I just wanted him there, so he could tell me how to improve,” she said. “Luckily I have him watching this year.”

Herradon’s mother, Kathy, got her into soccer at age 7 as a way to overcome her shyness.

It has clearly worked on the field, as witnessed by her aggressive dribbling and willingness to take and initiate contact.

“That’s not my daughter on the field,” explained Kathy Trejo,

Juan’s wife of six years. “Off the field and at school, she’s quiet. She doesn’t cause any problems. She’s a different person out there. Her opponents don’t expect her to be so aggressive because she’s one of the shorter players.”

The action got a little too heated during the game against Central Lafourche on Dec. 16. While attempting a shot on goal, Lady Trojan goalkeeper Veronica Robichaux upended Herradon. The two exchanged punches. Both were red-carded and thrown out of the game.

“She jumped on top of me. I was just defending myself,” Herradon insisted. “It wasn’t my first red card, but it was still embarrassing.”

After sitting out the first half against South Terrebonne on Friday as punishment for the fight, Herradon scored six goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half in a 14-0 victory.

Juan Trejo has garnered success in his own right. He has led HTSA girls’ teams to one Louisiana Soccer Association championship (U-16 in 2007) and three runner-up spots (U-17 in 2004 and 2008 and U-18 in 2005). Herradon was on the 2007 and 2008 squads.

He has also guided the boys’ U-14 team to an LSA title in 2006, and the U-15 boys were runners-up in 2007.

“Juan has a lot of respect in the Houma soccer community,” said Julio Contreras, Terrebonne’s assistant principal, who coached both Tigers soccer teams during the 2007-08 season. “Him being a former professional player, he understands all the technical things that make players better.”

Trejo never imagined he would ever become a soccer coach. Growing up, he was the only family member – parents, four brothers and four sisters – who liked soccer. Even his oldest son, Daniel, from a previous marriage, did not follow in his father’s cleats.

In the Mexican leagues, Trejo was a right fullback defender who played irregularly and never made the national team.

After retirement, he went to Europe – two years in London, one year in Spain and one year in France. Then he returned to Mexico as a trainer for Rayados.

Trejo came to America in 2001 because Daniel entered Nicholls State University. When Trejo took the job with the HTSA, it was the first time he ever coached.

Trejo claims it is much harder being a trainer than a coach.

As a trainer, he has to make sure the players develop physically, technically and tactically.

As a coach, he is responsible for a good practice and managing the game.

“If you are the trainer and something goes wrong with the player, everybody is going to complain to you,” he said. “Coaches are going to complain to you because the player isn’t ready. If the player fails at any level – club, select, or high school – they are coming after you.”

Two things both father and daughter agree on is she can improve her heading and use of her left leg.

“For the high school level, Jessica doesn’t have any problems,” Trejo said. “If somebody is going to pay you in a professional league or give you a college scholarship, you need to be a complete soccer player. Whatever you do with the right you have to do with the left.”

“I totally agree. That’s my weak points,” Herradon said. “Heading because I’m so short (5-feet, 3-inches) and left leg because it’s not my dominant leg. I think I can always improve on something.”

She has plenty of opportunities to improve her game. This year Herradon plays on a select team, Carrollton, based out of New Orleans. She also plays for the state’s Olympic Develop-ment Program U-18 team.

“It’s the best players in Louisiana,” she said. “We travel and compete in regional and nationals. We do a lot of out-of-state showcase tournaments. I have gone to the Texas Shootout, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi and Florida after the Heat won state, and we went to Tampa for the regionals.”

Another reason Trejo took the job at Terrebonne was because he knew how much soccer talent was developed in Houma.

Even with the 5-4-1, 2-0 in district, start to the season, he feels the THS boys can make a run and compete for the district title.

“Except this year, I think Terrebonne always has the best players in Houma,” Trejo said. “They’re always good and make the playoffs. The difference between those years and this year, we are not as strong individually like last season, but as a team, we are stronger than ever.”

While the Lady Tigers have gotten out to a great start this season (10-2-1, 2-0 in district), head coach Virginia Lottinger would like to see Herradon and the squad play more cohesively as a unit.

“I try to emphasize that with her,” Lottinger said. “I also emphasize to the team to follow up behind her because a touch by her or a deflection by the keeper can put the ball behind her and somebody can scoop it up for an easy opportunity to score. But it’s her speed that makes us a dangerous offensive team.”

Contreras, who was Herradon’s first youth soccer coach before coaching her again last season, said talent and the right attitude have made her the player she is today.

“For her, soccer is very important. She does it 100 percent, all the time,” he said. “She works hard at it. That’s how she got better. That’s what makes her excel: pure dedication and love of the game. That’s what coaches want to see in all their kids.”

With this likely being the last year to spend quality father-daughter time together, Trejo and Herradon are making the most of it.

Whether on the pitch, in the stands, or in the comforts of home, soccer has bonded the pair the way only sports can.

“He tells me about his playing days in Mexico. We watch Mexican games on television on GolTV,” Herradon said. “He really gets into it. He screams at the television, but I don’t like watching soccer on television. It kills me because I’d rather be playing it.”

“Now I just get to relax and enjoy watching how Jessica plays the game,” Trejo said. “I never had that time in the last four years. I can sit with my wife and watch my daughter play.”

Terrebonne Lady Tiger all-time goal scorer Jessica Herradon (right) works on her dribble against her stepfather Juan Trejo, who coaches Terrebonne’s boys’ team and was a former defender in the Mexican professional soccer leagues. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF