The Craig Hall Chronicles :: Alejandra Melendez

The most reticent of the Montana soccer team's freshmen provides details about herself as willingly as she gives up the ball when she has possession in the midfield.

In other words, it's possible to get it from her, but it's going to take some work. And you may need to rely on another tactic, like talking to her mom. Or her former club coach.

"When she first came into our program, it was my job to get the best out of her," says Lloyd Grist, technical director for the California Thorns. "I thought I needed to get her out of her shell, but I quickly realized that was counter-productive."

It didn't take him long to learn that Alejandra Melendez has no problem expressing herself. She just prefers doing it with a ball at her feet and an expanse of green around her.

"She keeps things to herself and doesn't let many people in, but on the flip side, when the ball starts rolling, she is willing to be the most productive player on the team, which you relate to having big character. Her character shows with the soccer ball," he says.

"She is going to keep to herself in those moments in the team room, in the locker room, but when the whistle blows, she is someone you're going to want to have the ball."

Quiet and reserved does not mean uninteresting, not in this case. Melendez may have the most fascinating, varied experiences and storylines of any of the six new Grizzlies. Consider:

* She has an Instagram following of more than 7,600 people. She is enough of social-media influencer that she drew the attention of Coca-Cola, which is how she ended up in Yekaterinburg, Russia, for the 2018 World Cup, on the field, holding the Mexican flag before that country's matchup against Sweden.

* That wasn't the first time soccer has taken her internationally. A tryout in the Bay Area when she was 13 led to a tryout in Georgia, which led to a week in London, training at the Academy of West Ham United.

* She is Montana coach Chris Citowicki's first hard-core gamer, in the more modern sense of the word (not that she isn't a traditional gamer, which she seems to be as well). Her preferred video game: Rainbow Six Siege.

* When she graduates from college (initial academic interest: computer science), she will be the first from her family to do so.

* She reads, writes and speaks fluent Spanish. She actually learned in Spanish through the fifth grade, in a bilingual immersion school in Oakland. English was simply a class offered one period per day.

* She is a two-time U.S. Youth Futsol national champion and three-time region champion.

* She dreams of one day playing on the Mexican national team.

* She doesn't have a driver's license, and at 5-foot-1, she needs help from her teammates to reach the pull-up bar when the team is training in the Washington-Grizzly Champions Center.

It's doubtful her great-grandmother could have dreamed up any of that when she moved from Mexico to West Oakland so many decades ago.

Both of her parents had passed away in the tiny Mexican town in which she was raised, so she followed a cousin to the U.S., looking for more opportunities.

She found work at a Del Monte cannery, married a guy just back from the war and ended up having six kids, one of whom was Gabriela Villarreal's mother.

"My parents made sure I spoke Spanish as my first language, then I went to bilingual immersion school," says Villarreal, Melendez's mom.

"It's been such an asset for me, so for my kids, I did the same thing. I wanted them to have that opportunity as well."

When her daughter was seven, Villarreal signed her up for a local soccer academy. The hook was set. "It was just scrimmages and basic skills, but I loved it and kept going," says Melendez.

There are two reasons Melendez plays the way she does (think: possession, deception, change of speed and direction, vision).

"She's amazing. Anytime you apply pressure and think you've gotten close to her, she'll just flick it up over your foot. And she turns so quickly. It's hard to take the ball from her," says Citowicki.

She points to those first years she started playing, doing an assigned technical warmup, 20 to 30 minutes before every practice, four or five times per week, when she was at the start of her development.

Whether or not you subscribe to Malcom Gladwell's 10,000 hours theory, Melendez having a ball at her feet that often resulted in something special.

"She plays in a way that not many college soccer players play," says Grist. "She is pretty diminutive but crafty and super technical.

"She maybe doesn't have the athletic, combative, physical and speed traits, but she can unlock, she can create, she can assist, she can score. She just plays the game like very few do on the girls' side, so she is always going to be an asset. You're down a goal, she is someone who can do things others can't."

Her size, her mom says -- the other reason she plays like she does, partly out of necessity against bigger opponents -- was a factor when it came to recruiting. College coaches saw her slight 5-foot-1 frame and passed on the skill set that first draw their attention.

Citowicki didn't think anyone that size could be an impact player at the Division I level either when he got the Montana job in 2018.

Then that fall his team faced Northern Colorado. Scoring the game-winner in the fifth minute of overtime in the Bears' 2-1 win in Missoula was Mariel Gutierrez.

All the under-sized Gutierrez, also a midfielder, would do in her career was score 36 goals, a total that is tied for third in Big Sky history, and be voted all-region and first-team all-conference four times.

She graduated with one of the most distinguished soccer resumes in league history, a player with a big presence despite her size.

Later that season, at the Big Sky tournament in Ogden, at an all-team banquet, Citowicki saw Northern Colorado coach Tim Barrera sitting at a table with someone he assumed was Barrera's daughter.

It was Gutierrez.

"I didn't realize how small she was until I saw her outside of a soccer uniform," Citowicki says. "I thought, wow, she's tiny.

"You might look at (Alejandra) and think, oh, here's this small kid, this should be easy. But you can't touch her, you can't catch her. She just moves too quickly. Her skill level is exceptionally high and her game IQ is ridiculous. She could be very special in this league, just like Gutierrez was."

As her daughter was getting started in the sport, Villarreal didn't want to miss any of it. And never wanted to forget it. So she captured all of it, on a camera, on her phone, whatever she had access to.

When Melendez was 13 and training at the Bladium Soccer Academy in nearby Alameda, which has an affiliation with West Ham United, a scout from the club's home office in London showed up for an ID camp.

Melendez was selected to advance to the next level of tryouts, which would be held in Rome, Georgia.

That trip would be the start of her Instagram account that would one day take her to Russia, at Coca-Cola's expense, for the World Cup.

"From the moment she started playing I had a video camera in my hand," says Villarreal. "I've videoed the entire thing.

"When she went to Georgia for the West Ham experience, I thought it would be nice to share some of those moments. From there I posted her journey of soccer. That's where it started."

Competing against mostly older girls from the U.S. and Canada, Melendez made the final cut. She was off to London for 10 days.

"That was a pretty cool experience," says her mom. "She got to train on the academy grounds and with the academy coaches.

"We went to some English Premier League matches. To experience the different culture of soccer that exists was really eye-opening. It was more like a religion.

"That's when we realized, okay, she is ready for the next level."

That meant looking for a new, larger club. They found what they were looking for in San Jose, the De Anza Force Soccer Club (which later joined forces with California Thorns).

"It was 45 miles away, but we wanted to get her the best coaching, the best team, and De Anza was nationally recognized and the top team in Northern California," says Villarreal.

"That's when her real soccer journey started. She had been playing competitive, but we went to the next level at that point."

Her Instagram following was growing as well. At first it was just a way to share the experiences with family and friends. Then it started to double as a way to expose her to college coaches.

They posted some skills videos, some of Melendez playing with her friends, anything to feed the need.

Then Melendez expanded her social-media game. She has a thing for shoes, which she began posting about, and that's a language that knows no borders. She inexplicably became something of a minor celebrity.

At 5-foot-1, she was a player so many could identify with.

"She started gaining a following, people from all over the world," says Villarreal. "It was a lot of work, but it was really cool when we'd get kids who said, 'Wow, you're my idol. I look up to you. I hope to be like you one day.'

"It was super flattering and motivating, especially when it was little kids from other countries, where soccer is maybe not available or accessible."

As her followers kept increasing into the thousands, at least two sports marketing agencies noticed.

Both reached out with an offer: We've identified you as a soccer social-media influencer. How would you like an all-expenses-paid trip to Russia for the World Cup as part of a youth program that Coca-Cola is sponsoring?

Daughter and mother reacted the way anyone would when contacted electronically with a too-good-to-be-true offer. They laughed and hit delete.

"I thought it was fake," Melendez says. Villarreal adds, "The first one, okay, this has to be some sort of scam, right?"

Then the second offer arrived. "They set up a call and it was all legit. It was real. I couldn't believe it was happening," says Villarreal.

Of course it wasn't just a free offer, with no strings attached. They wanted access to her followers. And did they tell her she would be part of a series of 90-second online episodes through Telemundo that would detail the entire experience?

Instagram was one thing. That was just videos of her playing soccer. Nothing stressful there. This sounded a little more intense.

"Her first question was, Do I have to speak on camera?" says her mom. "She was fine with the posts but she's got a thing about being on camera. They said, Yeah, it will probably be some."

"Some" she could probably handle, considering the reward. But star in the episodes?

"She was the only fluent Spanish speaker, so she became the spokesperson," says Villarreal. "It was a great growth experience where she was able to stretch herself and step out of her comfort zone, on camera and with a crew everywhere she went."

It started with two episodes in Oakland, at home with family and friends. When she was in Russia, the Coke crew followed her every step.

"I didn't get to hang out with her at all. We were at the same hotel. I'd see her in passing, but I couldn't hang out with her, I couldn't eat with her. I was there but I wasn't with her," says Villarreal.

One day the group attended a cooking class and prepared a traditional Russian meal. "It wasn't my style," says Melendez. "I like plain and simple, bread and turkey. I like burgers, with meat, cheese and bun. Cheese is adventurous for me."

She had to do five Instagram posts each day she was there, each one Coke-related, but the hassle was all worth it the moment she stepped onto the field, one of six people holding up the flag for the pregame anthem.

She had seats right behind the goal as Sweden defeated Mexico 3-0.

So it's fitting that it was online video that connected Melendez and Montana.

Citowicki wasn't even looking for her. He was actually looking for additional video of another player from California Thorns he was interested in, one who would end up committing to an SEC school.

All he kept getting drawn to was this Gutierrez-type player who was uncommitted.

He narrates what he saw that first time. "Hey, that's pretty decent skill level. Wow, that's pretty special. That's amazing! Maybe this is someone we should recruit!"

It helped she attended Bishop O'Dowd High, same as current Montana sophomore goalkeeper Elizabeth Todd, who gave Melendez a stamp of approval. "Next thing you know, she's here," says Citowicki.

Okay, not that quickly. There was the first email, which opened the eyes of a player who hadn't considered that playing at a school outside of California was really an option.

Citowicki asked if they could talk on the phone. Melendez agreed. It was her first phone conversation with a college coach. She was beyond nervous.

"She didn't even let me be in the room. She had the conversation with Chris completely with the door closed," says Villarreal.

"I tried to listen in. I just kept hearing her laugh and giggle, so I knew it was a good conversation. She connected with him on that first call and said, 'Mom, I want to go visit.'"

Melendez says, "I wanted to see what it was all about."

Citowicki doesn't miss out on too many players who he gets to visit, who he gets to sit in his office, where he can better explain everything about his program. If he can get them there, he thinks he's 90 percent of the way home.

Of course he knows he's not just convincing the player. Parents are part of the package as well.

"I went in with an open mind," says Villarreal. "Just sitting with Chris, it immediately felt like a great situation. His thoughtfulness in recruiting (Alejandra) made me feel like this is a really good place for her, that she would fit in and be valued and she would make a difference."

Grist was happy to hear about Melendez's decision to attend Montana. While they don't steer their players in any direction, they do guide them. They know the programs they are more comfortable sending their players to. After all, they are invested and want the best for them as well.

Montana is on the list.

"From her own personal growth standpoint, she probably needs this," says Grist. "Fly the nest and figure some things out on her own.

"I'm seeing more and more girls now who want to venture away from California. We want our players to be uncomfortable, so they problem-solve and find solutions."

Citowicki had his own problem to solve when Melendez visited, or at least a concern. Was she too quiet?

"I'm pretty extroverted at times, and I like to have a team that's kind of loud," he says. "Can she fit into this?"

As Grist learned years ago, there is no benefit in trying to change the personal nature of a player. Just get Melendez on the field. That's where is she most comfortable. That's where she's herself.

"That's just who she is. But now that I've gotten to work with her a bunch, especially in small-group sessions, she opens up a lot," Citowicki says.

"There is such a unique personality in there. Everybody who knows her on a deep level loves her."

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