“It’s all about the team” may be an easy comment to make, but coach Greg Baker and the U14 Girls X-treme Breakaway seem to be following through with their action.

The Breakaway, champions this fall of the Coast Soccer League’s top flight Gold Division with an undefeated record, have a unique player rotation with 15 field players sharing an equal number of minutes and starting assignments through the season.

“We don’t have starters. We don’t have bench players. Everyone rotates through the exact same amount of minutes,” Baker said. “I think it’s noteworthy we can rotate like that without seeing a difference on the field.”

The approach reflects the origin of the team a couple of years ago. Baker and his brother Dave operate a successful private training business in Southern California, and were approached by parents looking for something different and better.

“The way we formed, a lot of parents were unhappy with their current situation at the time. They got in contact with us and asked if we would ever want to take a team,” Baker said. “These are serious families where the kids get good grades and discipline is high on the field and at home. This group of parents wasn’t satisfied with the norm, and they are down with whatever we want to do, especially when it comes to teambuilding.”

Baker believes teambuilding is the most important part of the team’s success.

“We focus on that more than any kind of technical or tactical training,” he said. “We focus more on teambuilding than anything. The technical or tactical side of soccer is very simple. We are able to play a very nice, attacking style of soccer, but with girls especially, if you don’t appreciate your teammates, it makes it more difficult to have a nice flow to your game. For us, we have to love each other completely and be totally on the same page at all times. When we’re getting along we are playing our absolute best, which is the majority of the time I’d say.”

As an example, the team will go on retreats at a beach house or in the mountains. Players will share responsibilities such as housework, homework or recreational times of swimming or game-playing.

“Everything is done together,” Baker summarized.

As part of his philosophy emphasizing team first, Baker is rather outspoken of the club recruiting culture that exists among top teams in Southern California and elsewhere.

“The goal of any coach who wants to be at a high level, should be to want to see as few changes as possible on his roster,” Baker said. “Our goal is to not pick up new players and not make changes. If a player is struggling, our job is to make them better by improving their technique and understanding of the game. We shouldn’t just throw them away. On the other end, if some players might be better than others, we need to work to keep them challenged so they don’t want to look anywhere else because they don't like their home. Recruiting is the last thing on our mind, that’s for sure.”

Baker said he will continue to work with this team until the players leave for college, then begin with another team in the same fashion at approximately U10.

One other noteworthy point about the team is that they have perhaps THE COOLEST WEB SITE of any club you will find. It’s definitely worth checking out. It was designed by Josh Forstot.

The X-treme Breakaway U14 Girls: Savanna Vaughn, Sydney Raguse, Cabria Turang, Jordan Jesolva, Ashlee Lawton, Karsten Sigband, Miranda Aguilar, Christine Pilecki, Annie Alvarado, Taylor Alderete, Nikki Martino, Amanda Marinko, Katelyn Mccormick, Amanda Stephenson, Taylor Vargo, Megan Borman