THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: Friday, Sept. 9, 2016

While he’s not necessarily making plays up and down the field for the North Idaho College men’s soccer team, speedy 5-foot-7 forward Alec Maldonado can be many things to some people.

The 19-year-old sophomore wearing the No. 22 jersey is a good friend, a bit of a jokester, a Los Angeles Lakers fan, a pretty solid student with a 3.1 grade-point average and of course, a pretty big fan of one of the best teams and top players in the world, Real Madrid and its star player, Ronaldo of Brazil.

Maldonado grew up in Coeur d’Alene after his family moved from Riverside, Calif., when he was in third grade, hence the Lakers part. During his childhood and teenage years, he played for the Sting Soccer Club for a few seasons, for none other than NIC coach Ken Thompson’s brother, Mike Thompson.

“I started playing soccer when I was six,” Maldonado said. “Mike coached me for four years; he helped me a lot.”

After playing for the Lake City Timberwolves as a playmaking forward, Maldonado decided to stay close to home — currently he lives with his mother, Shane Maldonado and his stepfather, Jay Weedon — as part of his development as a soccer player. Shane works as a greeter at Costco and Jay is a sales representative at Triple E Technologies in Post Falls.

As for why the family moved here, it was fairly clear.

“We moved from California because my parents wanted us to live in a much smaller town and were sick of all the crime and stuff going on down there and they thought up here was just going to be a better way of life for my brother (Austin) and I.”

AS A starter most of last season, he had two goals and five assists in the Cardinals’ second year of play in the Northwest Athletic Conference. Maldonado said his favorite memory from that season was a 3-2 comeback win over Columbia Basin College of Pasco, Wash., in which NIC trailed 2-0. NIC is off to an 0-2-2 start this season.

“This team’s a lot better this season, we just have to mesh together on the field,” Maldonado said. “We have more weapons this year. We have the chemistry, we all hang out with each other.”

Although Maldonado did not receive any scholarship offers at any four-year schools and hasn’t so far this season, but he’ll weigh his options after the season. He likes the NIC campus, being near Lake Coeur d’Alene and he’s not much of a fan of winter.

“I want to keep playing soccer after I’m done here, maybe D-II,” Maldonado said.

COACH KEN Thompson has overseen the right-side forward’s progress, and the added players should be able to take a little heat off him and can provide added goal-scoring opportunities. Thompson also said Maldonado is one of the team’s best passers, scorers and is perhaps the fastest player on the team. No other Cardinal has challenged him to a race just yet.

“He’s one of the most athletic players on the field,” Thompson said. “He wins almost everything on balls in the air. Against Whitworth (in a 6-0 loss last week), he was one of the top five players on the field for both teams, for sure. One time, he was 8 yards behind the ball, but he was still able to catch up to the ball.

Thompson said at first, some teams last season did not seem to pay as much attention to Maldonado as a freshman, as they did a few other players.

“He’ll get fouled at least five or seven times in just about every game, so that’ll allow us to have free kicks,” Thompson said. “Teams mark him pretty tight, there’ll be one player guarding him and another in the background. They’ll have him facing our own goal.”

Last season, Maldonado had to fill in for forwards who were injured at times, including Chris Wheelock, who transferred to BYU, Braden Ridgewell and Hamidou Kante.

“We have other athletic guys,” Thompson said. “The timing of our scoring runs has improved. He’s focused and his composure have also improved.”

LAKE CITY product and NIC sophomore midfielder Max Mularski has had the enjoyment of seeing Maldonado’s fun side.

“He’s a character, he’s always joking,” Mularski said. “We’ve played together for six years. I look to his side when I have the ball. We have the same class schedule.”

James Williamson, a new assistant coach this season, played for Lake City from 2006 to 2008. His degree in exercise science from Corban University of Salem, Ore., where he started for all four seasons, gives him a certain insight with Maldonado, who is taking a class in exercise physiology.

“Alec’s got some great athletic gifts,” Williamson said. “He’s a good player. The biggest improvement has been his work ethic.”

That work ethic has taken Maldonado to the Kroc Center, where he’s worked out often over the past summer.

“I usually go for a run after I work out,” Maldonado said. “After that I play basketball, work on my legs (lifting weights). I feel this year, it’s going to make a difference.”

This season, Maldonado will look to get even better, one speedy run at a time.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, via e-mail at [email protected] or via Twitter @bourq25