In the past, Bakersfield College got rid of its men’s soccer team due to budget reasons. BC student Raul Carrillo, 20, is looking to bring soccer back to BC by starting a men’s soccer club at the school.

Carrillo, a kinesiology major, said he wasn’t aware that BC didn’t have a men’s soccer team when he started attending the school two years ago.

“Soccer is my thing,” Carrillo said.  “I want to go pro. It’s more than a game for me and I’m sure that it’s more than a game for a lot of people.”

Carrillo said he’s been trying to create a club ever since he got to BC. This semester, he has been working on the paperwork and creating a constitution for the club as required to start a club on campus.

“I’m only going to be able to play for like one year, and that’s fine with me,” Carrillo said.

Carrillo said that he just wants to leave the future athletes of BC something they can use to try to make it to the next level of soccer.

Carrillo said that he is being advised and supported by BC women’s soccer coach Scott Dameron and Student Government Association members Nick Acosta and Alex Enciso.

Carrillo said he’s planning on attending a four-year college in Los Angeles. He believes there’s a better opportunity there for him after BC, in terms of going pro.

“For me that’s where the opportunities are, Los Angeles, that’s where you have the MLS. That’s where professional clubs go, and they recruit people from there,” he said.

Carrillo said he plans on putting fliers around the school to spread the word on the soccer club. He stated that the constitution allows 12 board members and he has already met that requirement.

“He has been working really hard to get the club going,” Dameron said when asked about his position on helping Carrillo. “Everyone always talks about it, but nobody ever does anything about it. There is so much interest in the sport here, I get questions all the time about how to participate, so that’s what they’re trying to do.”

Carrillo said Enciso believes the club should begin this fall.