From Sandlots to Sidelines: How Soccer Shaped José Brambila

I’ve had great coaches who motivated me, who told me to focus on education, to be something more. Now, I get to do that for my players.”

Halfway through the girls soccer season last fall, José Brambila was presented with the question: Would he consider doubling his workload? The first-year Peninsula girls soccer coach was already guiding his team toward an impressive postseason run, but now there was another opportunity on the table: taking over the boys soccer program in the spring.

Brambila didn’t answer right away. Instead, he did what any good coach would do: he analyzed the situation, considered his stamina, and waited for the final whistle on one season before committing to another. “I wanted to see what my energy was like,” he said.

As it turns out, winning has a way of replenishing the reserves. After leading the Seahawks girls to conference and district championship games, and a 14-4-1 record, “I found my second wind.”

Now, just four months later, he’s pacing the sidelines again, this time for a boys team coming off back-to-back losing seasons. The challenge is different, but one he embraces, shaped by a life journey that began not on the pristine turf fields of an elite soccer academy, but on the dusty sandlots of Baja California, Mexico, where he grew up in the orphanage system.

Brambila was born in Salem, Oregon, but Mexico became his home when he was young. His childhood took an abrupt turn when, one morning, his mother woke him up and told him to help get his siblings ready — they had to leave before his father returned. Brambila, just 7 years old at the time, never saw his biological father again.

With five children to care for and no formal education, his mother struggled to provide stability. Eventually, she made the difficult decision to place Brambila and his siblings into orphan care. She still visited her children, but as Brambila moved through four different orphanages, there was one thing that remained constant — soccer.

“We played all kinds of sports, like basketball, football, riding bikes, but soccer was the most popular,” he said.

“Kids would always come to my room and ask if I wanted to play. I had a natural connection with the ball and loved taking players on. I never turned down a game.”

At Colina de Luz, at the time a home for nearly 100 children outside of Tijuana, the sport became his sanctuary. Early on, he had to depend on the older kids to teach him how to play. Brambila’s cousin motivated him by paying him a quarter every time Brambila scored on him.

Brambila quickly stood out. He played against kids much older than him, toughening up on the unforgiving, hard-packed sand fields of Baja. He learned to be quick, to think ahead, to adapt. It was in those chaotic, unstructured games that he honed his technique and resilience.

Eventually, he caught the attention of a coach he came to know only as “Adolfo,” who formed teams that included underprivileged kids and kids from other parts of the community.

“He told me, ‘If you want (the ball), go get it. Don’t let others decide for you,’ ” Brambila said. “That always stuck with me.”

The team made the nearly hour-long trip to Tijuana for games twice a week. For the first time, Brambila was part of something structured. He embraced the identity of being part of a team, a feeling that meant even more when kids from outside the orphanage recognized him for his skill on the field rather than where he came from.

It wasn’t until he was 13 that he first set foot on a grass field. After years of playing on hard-packed dirt, the softness under his cleats felt almost unnatural, but it didn’t take long for him to appreciate the smooth surface and the way the ball moved across it. Less dust, fewer bruises, and a glimpse of the game as it was meant to be played.

Brambila soon after reunited with his mother and moved to California, where they settled in the San Joaquin Valley. Over the next few years, they moved 20 times as she sought better job opportunities. After high school, he helped establish an intramural soccer team at Porterville Community College. That helped earn him a spot on the Cal State Bakersfield soccer team, where he graduated before eventually making his way to Washington in 2006. He took a shot at playing professionally, trying out for the Seattle Sounders in 2007. Though he didn’t make the squad, the game continued to shape his future.

Now in his second year as a Spanish teacher at Peninsula, Brambila is not just coaching; he’s building something special. His first season leading the girls team last fall was an overwhelming success.

The boys team finished 5-10-1 last season, but Brambila sees the potential for a turnaround. “My coaching philosophy is the same (for boys and girls): quality, discipline, and consistency,” he said.

His first game at the helm of the boys team was a homecoming of sorts, a 2-0 loss at Curtis High School March 13, where he had once coached. But despite the result, Brambila is confident in his squad.

The 2025 squad has plenty of defensive experience, including a backline of seniors Daniel Holt, Luca Marchio, and Ryan McFarlane.

Up front, the excitement comes from a wave of young players to support returning juniors Phillip Kim, Ramse Vitale, and Jonas Koller. Freshmen Ryan Rogers is a versatile attacking midfielder, and Anthony Sewell should be another player to watch. Brambila called freshman forward Davi Da Cruz “a very creative ball-handler.”

To get through to his team, Brambila knows firsthand the importance of mentorship. He didn’t always have a strong male role model growing up, but the few coaches who guided him left an impression that has never faded. Now, he’s paying that forward. “The sport has given me so much,” he said. “I’ve had great coaches who motivated me, who told me to focus on education, to be something more. Now, I get to do that for my players.”

For a boy who once played on dirt fields with borrowed cleats, soccer became a vehicle for possibility. And as Peninsula’s new head coach, he hopes to inspire his players to chase something bigger — not just wins, but belief in themselves. “It’s a good mix,” he said of his team. “We’ve got veterans leading in the back and young players ready to make an impact.”

And if there’s one thing Brambila knows, it’s that opportunity doesn’t come knocking, you have to chase it down.

“If they want it, they are going to have to go for it.”