Efrain Valencia, Jr. is a center forward for Emerald 04 Celtic, coached by Kelvin Scott with assistant coaches David Combs and David Brace. He is a newer addition to the team and as such he has had to prove himself to a pretty tightly knit squad. Coach Scott says he has done this in his own persistent way, letting his work ethic in training and his skills on the field serve as an example to his teammates. “Efrain is a hard-working player who is always looking for ways in which to improve his game,” Scott says. “He is always one of the first players to arrive at practice and often can be seen shooting even after the field lights have shut off.” Scott says Efrain always has a ball at his feet, practicing elasticos, rainbows or playing keep-uppy with a teammate. “Efrain plays center forward for us, and in a 4-5-1 formation this means that he shoulders a great deal of responsibility to be a leader in our attacking play. He has embraced this role and has worked very hard this season to be increase his strength on the ball as well as show restraint and hold up the ball against center backs,” Scott says proudly. Not only is he a hard worker, Efrain loves foot skills and uses modern technology to help him learn. “As a coach you appreciate this, because he is constantly watching YouTube videos of great players and their trademark skills,” Scott explains. “It’s pretty common to arrive at practice and have Efrain call one of the coaches over and say ‘watch this.’ More often than not, he wows us with some new skill. We know it is just a matter of time before his wide repertoire of skills start getting even greater results during games.”