- December 23, 2024
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Seabreeze boys head soccer coach Alejandro (Alex) Perez and his son Blake pose at the Ormond Beach Soccer Complex. Photo by Michele Meyers
Kicking a soccer ball comes naturally to Alex Perez's son Blake. Perez's kids Franco, Patty and Blake all learned how to play soccer at very young ages. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze boys head soccer coach Alejandro (Alex) Perez and his son Blake play at the Ormond Beach Soccer Complex. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze boys head soccer coach Alejandro (Alex) Perez and his son Blake play at the Ormond Beach Soccer Complex. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze head soccer coach Alejandro Perez talks to his players at halftime during the game against Taylor. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze head boys soccer coach Alejandro "Alex" Perez talks to his team at halftime during a game against Taylor on Nov. 18. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze and Taylor players salute the flag before the game at the Ormond Beach Soccer Complex. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze player Luke Harrell (6) runs past Taylor's Alejandro Caro (17) to pass the ball. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze player Luke Harrell (6) battles Taylor's Alejandro Caro (17) to maintain possession of the ball. Photo by Michele Meyers
Sandcrab Sebastian Mendoza (5) maneuvers between two Taylor players at the Ormond Beach Soccer Complex. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze player Rocco Dall'Orto (left) runs past Taylor's Alejandro Caro (17) to move the ball down field. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seabreeze captain Lane Meyer (18) beats Taylor's Emilio Garcia to head the ball. Photo by Michele Meyers
Alejandro “Alex” Perez loves his family and said soccer is a close…second?
Perez sleeps only a couple hours per night due to an old knee injury. When he wakes up, he said he is already thinking about soccer. He is either watching soccer on television, listening to it on his phone or studying team formations and upgrades implemented by his friends who are professional coaches in Spain and Uruguay. Perez lives his soccer life while running his general contracting company VAP.
This season, he was hired as the Seabreeze boys head soccer coach after he took a two-and-a-half year break from coaching to spendi time with his family and youngest son — 4-year-old Blake. He said Eli Freidus, a Seabreeze chemistry teacher and the Sandcrabs' girls soccer coach, put the idea in his head.
Perez was making the graduation party rounds with his daughter Patricia at the end of May when Freidus approached him and told him the boys soccer team needed help.
Even though Perez said he was taking a break, Freidus asked him to consider coaching again. At the next party, two parents asked him when he was coming back to coach. He then went to his stepdaughter Kylie Watson’s graduation party. Watson was a top player for the Seabreeze girls soccer team.
“Telling people I was taking a break started to turn into a “probably” (in my head),” he said. “Parents at Kylie’s graduation said they heard I might come back to coach. I told them no, but “probably” turned into thinking about it.”
He thought about it overnight and called Freidus the next day to let him know he was ready to coach. Freidus let Principal Tucker Harris know and Perez soon met with a committee which included Harris and athletic director Anthony Campanella. Within 30 minutes after Perez left the meeting, Harris called to let him know he got the job.
Whatever they do in life, it’s got to be 100%. It’s about respect. You have to respect adults, your teammates, your coaches and the referees. You have to respect the team in front of you. Everything in life is about respect.
— ALEJANDRO "ALEX" PEREZ, Seabreeze boys head soccer coach
Harris said they interviewed a few people but decided Perez’s experience playing soccer professionally and coaching locally made him a good fit for the job.
“I think the big catalyst for us was he has the experience,” Harris said. “He’s been in the Ormond soccer community for a long time. He is respected within that community. He’s coached a lot of these kids when they were younger and knows them. There’s already a relationship with the coach for a lot of the players, which is critical. Relationships are arguably the most important in any aspect — athletics, education, everything.”
After Perez accepted the job, Freidus assisted with his paperwork and Harris made it official for him to start this season.
“I like to be here for the kids,” Perez said. “It’s not for me. I don’t need to show or prove anything. I know what I’m doing — who I am. I just want to help the high school as much as I can and whatever kids I can help out.”
Campanella said a strong point for him was Perez’s connection with Seabreeze and the community.
“I think basically it came down to him being part of the Seabreeze family years ago,” Campanella said. “His son Franco played soccer for us and played in the state championship game and (Perez) was a part of that. Him being around the community and having a connection with us, I think that’s very important.”
In 1977, Perez was born in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. He started playing competitive soccer at 5 years old, played for the U15, U17 and U20 national teams and began his professional career with Uruguay's Club Peñarol and Club Progreso at the age of 16. He moved to Ormond Beach in 2003 and started working at the Dessert Inn as a dishwasher, a maintenance guy, a cook and a multitude of sundry jobs before he started coaching for the Ormond Beach Soccer Club in 2006.
He has coached over 600 players while working for OBSC, including his son Franco, who is now 23 years old, daughter Patricia, 19, and 18-year-old stepdaughter Kylie. During the 10 years Perez coached his son’s competitive team, they were top five in the state and in the five years coaching his daughter’s competitive team, they finished in the top four. Perez said it was a big accomplishment for a small soccer club like Ormond Beach.
“It was rough couching my kids,” he said. “I never, never was a father when I was couching them. I treated them like they were regular players. As soon as the referee blew the whistle (at the end of the game), they became my kids. They didn’t realize I was teaching them life lessons not only on the field but off the field.”
Seabreeze has started the season with a record of 3-3-1, including a 4-2 loss to Taylor on Monday, Nov. 18. Juan Bernal scored both Sandcrabs goals in the first half. Taylor’s Emilio Garcia scored three goals.
Perez said Seabreeze is full of talented players. He said he is giving 100% on the field to train them so they will be able to compete against the top schools. For the past month, the training he has implemented is starting to reflect on the field during the games. He said he is happy with their progress.
“My plan (for the team) is don’t even think about last year,” he said. “Everything is new — new players, new coaches, new systems. It’s going to be hard, but with their help and my coaches’ young mentality, we are all on the same page and we are going to make it happen. My goal is to win districts, make it to regionals and, hopefully, this year we can be in the final four in DeLand. If not, I guarantee next year, we will be there for sure.”
Perez tries to instill the importance of respect in his players. He believes the lessons learned on the field about never giving up, being present and checking in with one another will carry over in their lives whether they play soccer at the next level or become doctors, lawyers or electricians.
“Whatever they do in life, it’s got to be 100%,” he said. “It’s about respect. You have to respect adults, your teammates, your coaches and the referees. You have to respect the team in front of you. Everything in life is about respect.”
