Emi Ochoa of Salinas has reached soccer’s top level, and he is still in high school.

They say it’s different at the top. That’s especially true for a 16-year-old.

Under normal circumstances, Emi Ochoa would be a junior at Alisal High School in Salinas. Before the start of the 2022 Major League Soccer season, however, Ochoa was named to the San Jose Earthquakes’ first team, the third of three goalkeepers.

On the first team the game gets real. “It’s a lot faster,” Ochoa observes. “Bigger, smarter, faster, stronger.”

To the casual soccer observer there’s a lot to untangle here – a high school kid popping up on an MLS roster seemingly out of nowhere. But Ochoa has been something of a phenomenon since he was even younger. When the Earthquakes snapped him up as a 14-year-old freshman, he was ranked as the nation’s top goalkeeper for his age.

Ochoa was spotted while training with the Santa Cruz Breakers Academy, a move made after he spent his pre-teen years with El Camino FC in Salinas. “That was the best thing for Emmanuel,” says ECFC’s Adrián Moreno, who first began working with the young goalkeeper when Ochoa was 7 years old. “It’s really hard for a coach, but you can’t keep him forever.”

Moreno describes a kid with every intention of one day landing a roster spot at soccer’s top level: “Since he was young he was very professional, very responsible, very committed.”

Training in San Jose – first with the Breakers and then with the Earthquakes Academy – required a back-and-forth grind for Ochoa and his chauffeur mother every weekday.

“The thing that separates them from the next step is their mentality,” Moreno says of young players, along with their families and coaches. “[Salinas] could have more at the professional level.”

If potential is a word often applied to Ochoa, it’s also a term used by the young man to describe his hometown. “Salinas – it’s really a hard city to live in for a kid my age,” he says. “But there are a lot of opportunities to play soccer when you’re young.”

He believes there is a pool of talent in the city that has barely been tapped. Players have found their way from Salinas to professional soccer in the past, of course. Organizations like El Camino Football Club and Monterey County SC Jaguars routinely qualify teams for state and national titles.

“People pushed me, made me better,” Ochoa observes. “I want to put Salinas on the map. I want more scouts to go to Salinas.”

The daily routine of school and a round-trip haul to San Jose ended after he signed with the Earthquakes in November of 2019 at 14 years, 191 days old – the second youngest player to ink an MLS deal.

For the past two seasons, Ochoa has been gaining experience on the Earthquakes’ U17 and U23 squads. (In soccer’s lexicon, U stands for “under,” as in under the age of 23.)

An MLS first team is the most exposed formation of strata that includes affiliate squads in the United Soccer League, under teams and the amateur youth academy. One of Ochoa’s goals for the 2022 season is to play every U23 match. A call to the 18 who suit up for MLS games might be some time off.

“You have to be patient,” he explains. “I need to learn from the other goalkeepers. But the club has done a fantastic job working with me.”

The team assigns minors on professional contracts to the “Homegrown House,” a complex in San Jose. The team also staffs certified chaperones who can offer assistance. Practice for the first team generally runs in the morning. After that Ochoa and his young teammates tend to coursework.

It’s a requirement for minors to attend school, even when they turn professional. They enroll in an online program through Los Gatos High School.

Ochoa first played organized soccer in a Sunday league for the very young. Early on he settled on the goalkeeper position. His family and the clubs of Salinas helped drive and shape him.

“I love the sport, but you’re not doing it for yourself anymore,” he says. “It’s a job. But it’s still fun.”