Opening doors for the next generation on the soccer field

By the time Christian “Kiki” Recino Gonzalez, current soccer coach and geography teacher at W.T. White High School, stood on a pitch facing the 2015 U.S. women’s soccer national team, it felt surreal. She had grown up in Arlington,Texas, the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, watching stars like Alex Morgan and Marta Vieira da Silva on TV. Suddenly, she was lining up against them, wearing Guatemala’s blue and white.

“I grew up in Arlington, but my parents were immigrants, so they came to this country with nothing,” Gonzalez said. 

Her mom worked as a school cafeteria worker and her dad was a truck driver. Soccer, though, was her father’s great love, and it soon became Gonzalez’, she said.

“I just followed my dad wherever he went,” Gonzalez recalled. “He would play in the Sunday leagues and eventually they signed me up. I didn’t realize there was a girls league, so I played with the boys. I was the only girl on a little Mexican boys team.”

People quickly noticed she was good at soccer, she said. But club soccer cost money her family didn’t have. That might have ended her journey, if not for a small act of generosity. 

“My parents could not afford club soccer, but a local family stepped in and was like, ‘No, she’ll have a scholarship,’” Gonzalez said. “So I received a scholarship for Sting Soccer Club.” 

In high school, another key person also stepped in: her soccer coach, Andrea Scott. Before then, Gonzalez admitted she had never really seen soccer as a pathway to success, but Scott helped to steer her perspective. 

“My high school coach was like, ‘Hey, have you ever thought about playing for college and the national team?’ And I was like, no, what is that?’” she said. “My coach opened the doors for me.”

At a showcase tournament, scouts from the Guatemala women’s national team saw Gonzalez play. At first, she thought she was trying out for the Under-20, but she would soon realize it was much bigger than that. 

“I tried out, and the scouts were like, ‘We want you to play for the senior national team.’ I was only 18 years old and a senior in high school,” Gonzalez said. 

For the next four years, she played center midfielder and defensive midfielder for Guatemala. She debuted with her team in the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s Championship qualifiers and went on to participate in the main tournament.

Being a member of a national team not only meant living abroad but also juggling academics with commitments to an elite sport. 

“I had to take classes online to keep my scholarship for soccer,” she explained. “I was living in the facility—training with my teammates, eating with them. It becomes your whole lifestyle, but it’s something that I love. I would do it all over again if I had the opportunity.”

The game took her to stadiums she had only seen on television and pitted her against her heroes when she got to play against the 2015 U.S. Women’s World Cup squad. Yet her favorite moment wasn’t a goal or a trophy; it was a song.

“Believe it or not, it was whenever I would sing the Guatemalan national anthem,” she said. “I would see my parents and see my crowd. For me, that will forever be my favorite moment.”

Over time, Gonzalez realized her team was doing more than just competing. “When I was there, I realized we were opening doors for a generation,” she said. “Now there are girls who have that opportunity because of us. If we hadn’t done it, they might never have had the chance.”

Following her soccer career, Gonzalez tried the corporate route. Having graduated with a business degree from Grand Canyon University, she took a job at a logistics company. It lasted only six weeks. 

“I did not like the corporate world,” she admitted. “I was like, ‘What am I doing here in a cubicle?’”

So Gonzalez pivoted. She got her teacher certification and headed back to the place where everything had started: high school. While Gonzalez has been teaching for six years, this is her first year with Dallas ISD.

“My high school coach made the biggest difference in my life,” she said. “I wanted to give back to the community, and I knew coaching was my passion.”

As a geography teacher and the girls’ soccer coach at White High School, she brings the world and the game into her classroom. “Geography is cool because you get to talk about the whole world and its people,” she said. 

Gonzalez used soccer to make geography more relevant when she taped the headshot of a different soccer player to the back of each desk chair. Each player features the national team on the jersey. 

“Why does Guatemala wear blue and white? It’s because we’re between the Caribbean and the Pacific. All these jerseys mean something.”

Her coaching philosophy combines toughness with deep care. Her days start at 4:15 a.m. so she can be ready for 6:30 a.m. check-ins with her team and 7 a.m. practice. She is strict but also intentional about building leaders. 

“I also don’t like to select captains,” she said. “I tell my girls, ‘We’re going to make mistakes; no one’s perfect.’ But on the field, you should be able to tell who the leaders are. So, every game I mix it up. That has built leadership within the team and taught the girls to trust each other.”

Most of all, she wants her students to leave as stronger people. “If they come to the soccer program, [I hope] that they become a better person than they were,” she said. “The world that we’re living in is pretty scary, right? But there are still good people in it, and I hope they continue to be that no matter what they do.”

Gonzalez’ message to her girls is ultimately about effort and finishing what they start. 

“Nothing’s given,” she likes to remind her students. “Getting there is one thing, but finishing is another thing. You can do whatever you want, you just have to work for it.”