His face contorts as he looks into the sun. The wrinkles on his dark skin show years of this sort of expression. Surveying the field with his squinted eyes, he paces up and down the sideline.

He blows three short whistles through his lips to get the defender’s attention. Then with commanding arm gestures, he tells the defender, in an almost incomprehensibly thick Brazilian accent, that he should hold the ball longer and not clear it so quickly.

Although he isn't the defender’s coach, the defender strains to understand every word, because the man on the sideline knows what he’s talking about.

“Not only does he help us with our training and morale, he sees [problems] that others don’t and helps us change them,” senior defender Nik Cvetich said.

Jose Olivera has over five decades of soccer credentials that support his knowledge.

Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the 63-year-old Olivera has been playing soccer since he was seven. Soccer took him from unorganized games in his hometown to the Brazilian national team, and from playing with his older brother to playing with Pele and other greats. The first organized program that he joined was a local youth Suga Planta team. Then in 1964, when he was 19, he made the national team.

Unlike the previous teams he played on, the national team was, “more busy, organized and required more participation,” Olivera said.

“For me it was difficult, because I came from a farming town [unlike most of the other players],” Olivera said.

When on the pitch, Olivera had no problem communicating with his teammates, but off the field his quiet farm-boy ways differed from his city-boy teammates. “Their communication was different,” Olivera said.

Fortunately for Olivera, one teammate also came from a small community like his, and was willing to help him adjust to this new environment. This player was Pele.

“In life people are born to do something, and Pele was born to play soccer. Mama mia! You want to do like him!” Olivera said, his face lighting up.

At first, Olivera didn’t mind being alone while his teammates went out, but he later joined the team on their outings.

“They wanted you to be like a family,” Olivera said. Forming close bonds with his teammates as they traveled to Germany, France, and Italy, Olivera called that time the best in his life.

Olivera played for many different clubs, including the Brazilian Flamengo and Korinthia clubs, as well as clubs in Mexico during the nine years that he spent there in the ‘70s.

Now he comes on time to every practice and home game. Suited up in his old cleats, and warm-up pants, he looks ready. And he is.

He’s ready to help the young soccer fans understand the game that has played such a major role in his life.

When his professional playing time was over, and after a short break, Olivera began his coaching career at Cosumnes River College in 1986. After two years and a league championship, he switched to coach Sacramento High.

After a year-long term of coaching at Sac High, he moved to Casa Roble High School for 13 years, where he coached the boys’ and girls’ teams to multiple San Joaquin Valley championships. It was at Casa Roble that Olivera felt as though he was “part of the grupo.”

After a short coaching stint at Rio Americano High School, from 2002-04, Olivera took a three-year break. When he returned in the spring of 2007 it was to coach the Division VII, middle-school students of SCDS.

“I missed coaching,” Olivera said, smiling contentedly as he said "coaching." Since then Olivera has been assisting with the high-school varsity boys’ team by giving pointers, advice and running conditioning practices.

“I like it over here [at SCDS]. There’s a lot of pressure over there [at the other schools]. There’s little pressure here,” he said.

Olivera thinks that the team has good players, “that could go to the next level,” but said that he appreciates their positive attitudes more than anything else.

With his cleats tied together by the laces and slung over his right shoulder, Olivera exits the practice. Leaving the field, he walks gently because of a bad back. The team knows that he will be there the next day to help. He always is.