Albertin Montoya doesn’t remember everything about his childhood in Cuba. But he does recall what happened when he tried to escape his homeland.
“We never thought we were going to make it,” Montoya, Bay FC’s coach, says now.
But he did.
And that moment set the stage for everything to come in Montoya’s future: a decorated career as a college and professional soccer player in the United States, then a second chapter as a renowned coach who has won championships from the youth to the professional ranks.
The expansion Bay FC team that he leads is currently clinging to the NWSL’s eighth and final playoff spot.
None of it would have been possible without that fateful journey from Cuba. As Montoya, 49, looks back at his soccer life, much of it began with that frightening departure decades ago.
“That was pretty traumatic,” said Montoya, who made the harrowing trek at the age of 5. “My father was a professor, but he was also involved to a certain extent in the government. And in 1980, Fidel Castro and (U.S.) President Jimmy Carter made a deal, and it was supposed to be anyone that wanted to leave Cuba, they would be allowed to leave. But that wasn’t the case at all.”
Montoya’s parents were deemed valuable members of society who Castro did not want to lose and were forbidden from departing, Montoya said. Thus, their escape would be an unsanctioned and dangerous one, with Castro’s government fighting to stop them at every turn.
“What (Castro) did is he emptied all of his jail cells, all of his mental hospitals, anyone that had a criminal record, and sent them to the United States,” Montoya said. “So he just cleaned house.”
Meanwhile, the Montoyas split up. Montoya and his parents, Alberto and Elizabeth, all lived in separate locations for their safety. Then one day, Montoya’s relatives in the U.S. rented a boat in Florida and drove it down to Cuba. There was no time to hide anymore.
“They were going after my dad, and they were trying to kill my dad,” Montoya said. “They didn’t want him to leave, and once they found out that you’re leaving, you’re called a traitor. We were able to get on their boat. I didn’t know my dad would be there. I didn’t know if my mom would be there. No one knew. All three of us were separated, just to keep us safe. Then we were brought (to the boat), and then that’s when I saw my mom and dad.”
Montoya was emotional, but there wasn’t much time for sentiment. A storm was brewing in the Straits of Florida, and in many ways, getting into the boat was the easy part. Six or seven strangers jumped in at the last minute, and 93 miles of perilous seas lay ahead.
“It was during the middle of a storm, but we had to leave,” Montoya said. “It was a tiny 24-foot boat. I remember this vividly. We were just thrown up 15, 20 feet in the air, and then we’re just holding on for the boat to come back and fall to the water, crash right into the water, and then the wave throws us up again, and then we crash again.
“And at the same time, there were Cuban military ships that would come around, and they were crashing into small boats and just sinking them. So that was going on. We escaped one of those as well, and eventually made it to the U.S.”
The magnitude of that moment has never left Montoya. He credits it as a major reason for his everyday enthusiasm, a state of mind that has become his signature as a soccer coach.
“One hundred percent. Knowing that we had nothing in Cuba and how challenging things were, (the U.S. was) the land of opportunity,” Montoya said. “It’s cliche, but it’s true. It all depends on what you make of it. And it’s also the way I was raised.
“My dad always jokes around, here in the U.S., you turn the light switch on, you just expect light. Well, in Cuba, it was never like that. You just never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes you have electricity, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you have food, sometimes you don’t. It’s just so many challenges.”
Montoya has made quite a soccer life for himself and his family in the United States. Alberto, who was a professional player before the family’s escape and competed for Cuba in the Pan American Games, coached Albertin in the Mountain View Los Altos Soccer Club youth program.
Montoya eventually took over and built the club into a juggernaut, winning multiple national titles and sending many players to U.S. youth national teams. One of those players, Abby Dahlkemper, signed with Bay FC on Aug. 26 after a transfer from San Diego Wave FC. Another MVLA alumna, Catherine Paulson, signed Aug. 27 as a replacement player for United States U-20 national team call-up Savy King.
Montoya’s wife Erin played at Santa Clara University and later professionally for the San Diego Spirit of the Women’s United Soccer Association. The couple’s daughter, Allie, is carrying on the family legacy as a junior forward at Stanford this fall.
“One thing that my family was always bonded through was soccer,” Allie Montoya said. “That was my dad’s outlet, his dad’s outlet, too, at the time when they were struggling. My dad has such a good relationship with soccer that it became so easy for me to love the game too and get into it.
Montoya has maximized his opportunities in the United States, and now he’s looking to do the same with Bay FC. The man whom the Cuban government wanted to send to gymnastics training camp as a young boy has been flexible as his life has taken him in several different directions and all over the world.
So when he looks back on all of it, what does he reflect upon? Perhaps the best encapsulation of his unique ethos comes when he discusses watching Allie, who has suffered multiple major injuries while at Stanford.
Montoya’s own playing career ended after a serious knee injury took him out of action with the San Jose Clash. Though he certainly had plenty already, that experience lent him an additional level of perspective.
“I do enjoy every moment of it, because it ended my career,” he said. “Injuries come and go, so you just have to take it day by day and enjoy every minute. I enjoy every minute that she’s out there playing and making the most of it.”
When Allie is done at Stanford, she hopes to one day play for her dad.
“I’m so proud of him, and I’m so happy to see him doing the thing he loves the most,” she said. “He brings so much to the women’s game, so it gives me so much hope for the future of women’s soccer. I think he’s one of the best coaches.”
