His first love was football, but it’s futbol that ultimately became his passion.
Serafin Simon grew up in West Helena, Arkansas, playing football, just like most every other boy in the Mississippi River town of roughly 9,000.
“Nobody there knew anything about soccer in West Helena. We were all about some football, though. I started playing it at age 8,” said the Walla Walla, Washington, native.
But after his parents moved back to their homeland of Mexico for a two-year span, the 15-year-old Simon was introduced to soccer.
There was not a high school or city league football program anywhere to be found in Monterrey, the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon.
“So I started playing street soccer and watching the sport professionally. I didn’t even know how to kick the ball, but some of my friends taught me,” recalls Simon, who is in his first season as the head soccer coach at Pillow Academy. “Then the next year I began playing league soccer, and it just seemed to be a natural fit more me. I took to it pretty quickly.”
When the family business, San Miguel Arcangel, brought him to Greenwood about 14 years ago, Simon didn’t waste anytime spreading his love of soccer. He organized an adult soccer team and a league that began playing matches on Sundays in Wagner Park.
“We would have as many as 10 teams involved when it was at its biggest,” he said of the Sunday matches. “We had teams come from as far as Jackson and Kosciusko.”
But playing soccer eventually became less important as coaching it. He began coaching his son in the Greenwood Youth Soccer Organization several years ago.
“After a couple of years in GYSO, I was approached by some parents about coaching a Division II soccer team. I gave it a shot, and now I am in my fourth year of coaching travel soccer.
“It’s something I really, really enjoy. We have had a lot of success and fun through the years.”
As a coach, fun is a focal point for him.
“If the kids aren’t having fun, then we as coaches are doing it wrong,” Simon said.
That’s a philosophy he has carried over into his first season of the high school ranks as well.
“He is a players coach. He listens to his players so we can improve as a team, and he makes everything enjoyable,” Pillow senior Walker Coleman said.
“He is a great coach who really understands the game and knows the game and knows how to interact with young people.”
His approach seems to be working quite well. The Mustangs went 10-3-1 in the regular season and won a North AAAA title and a first-round bye in the state playoffs. Pillow will host a semifinal contest Thursday against the East Rankin-Magnolia Heights winner.
“I really like how this team has developed this season. We knew coming in we had talent and experience, but it’s all about meshing all that together as a team,” Simon said. “It’s do-or-die time now though. Lose and you go home.
“We’re excited to be at home Thursday. Hopefully, we’ll get another great, supportive crowd.”
This is the second year that the MAIS has broken AAAA soccer down into two different divisions (I for the larger schools and II for the others) like it has done for many years in football, baseball and basketball. It’s a move that has opened the door for Pillow to win its first state boys soccer title now that it doesn’t have to go through the powerhouse Jackson teams.
“If we win Thursday, we’ll make history because the boys have never played for a state title, but our goal is bigger than that,” Simon said. “We have the potential to win it all.”
nContact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
