Héctor Manuel González Ortiz , 52 years old, started in the world of soccer when he was 10 on the coastal city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, where he was born. After a 16 year professional career playing in the highest levels in Ecuador, including participation in the Copa Libertadores (South American “champions league” equivilant), and with the Ecuadorian National team in the Copa America 1997, Hector transitioned to coaching in 2007 as a youth coach and would later take charge of teams in the 1st and 2nd division of professional soccer.

While his playing and coaching career is impressive, Hector is well-respected and known for being a family man, as well as for his faith and sharing Christ-centered messages to his teams at every level, and leading by example of what an abundant life looks like in Christ.

  Hector was smart enough to marry Nancy Cruz, and they have three grown children and one grandson.

We at Cross Creation are blessed to call Hector and Nancy our friends and fellow servants in the sports ministry world. Hector currently serves as the director of the academy while his wife carries out many administrative responsibilities.

“We joined this project because we share the same faith, vision, mission, and values to serve our community through the teaching, practice, and learning of the fundamentals of soccer.”- Profe Hector

Walter Saavedra, better known now as coach Walter, was born in Machala, Ecuador. Walter grew up playing soccer with friends in various different settings. Walter moved to and from different foster care families and orphanages throughout his childhood and youth. Though life circumstances grew tough in his teenage years, Walter picked up some very important soccer playing, coaching, and leadership skills along the way and has an incredible testimony of how God has carried him through to where he is today, and thankfully, he crossed the path of Cross Creation in 2019 (the year of our founding), and he has been one of our most consistent coaches and now our main coaching supervisor. He has made a huge impact on the lives of many young boys and girls since joining us.

“Here, God has aligned my dreams, developed my potential, changed my sorrow to joy. I love impacting the lives of others through sports. I believe I am a real reflection of the truth of Luke 1:37, for nothing is impossible with God. I consider myself to be blessed and grateful to God for this beautiful project that is definitely designed to impact lives in a positive way. I feel and believe that we please God, and therefore I am building up my treasures in heaven while I serve God and men here on earth.” - Walter Saveedra

Walter is married to Mayra Cerda who is our team doctor and part of the ministry administration. Together they have taken into their care a young soccer player named Isaac Arroyo, a 13 year old boy who appeared to Cross Creation in 2019 when he was just 8 years old. Isaac is blessed to be under their care, as his parents were also not in the picture, similar to Walter’s upbringing.

Mayra was born in the US to a Mexican father and an Ecuadorian mother, and has now been living in Ecuador for 12 years. She finished med-school and residency a couple year ago and is now a doctor by profession. However, she has worked and served with Cross Creation for about three and a half years now. She is the treasurer for our organization as well as the team doctor. “It has been very gratifying for me to be here due to the high emotional and spiritual impact on my life.”- Mayra Cerda

Although she is relatively new to sports, she has realized that there are many areas of service needed in a project like ours, and we very openly welcome her expertise in the area of health for our staff and players. “I have discovered that just a smile or a word of encouragement can change the day of a grieving person… Through the Gospel that we impart, not only are the players served, but so am I by learning more about the life of service that Jesus asks of us. Here I have put my gifts and knowledge of medicine at the service of children, their parents, and anyone who needs it since it is a family-oriented project.”- Mayra Cerda

Cristhian Javier Caicedo, 26 years old, was born and raised in Riobamba Ecuador. He is the son of “the eternal captain” of Centro Deportivo Olmedo, Javier Caicedo, one of the oldest professional clubs in Ecuador where Joshua Ayers and Javier played two seasons together. His father has brought Christhian up to be a respectful young man, a good leader and example to young athletes. Being quite a good player himself, reaching the levels of semiprofessional soccer, he has alot of knowledge of the sport. On top of that he also graduated from the National University of Chimborazo with a degree in Physical Activity and Pedagogy, which is quite useful to us at Cross Creation. Cristhian is currently serving as youth coach with us.

Joshua played soccer in Ecuador for 2 years after college and later met Adriana during the last few months of his stay there. After getting married, moving back to the United States and working for 6 years in coaching and sports ministry environments, AND having 3 boys added to the family; they all moved back to Ecuador in 2018 to begin Cross Creation Sports Academy in Riobamba.

Joshua had constantly seen first-hand, as a player, the positive AND negative effects that a coach can have on his young athletes. Since there was no academy or sports ministry that intentionally focused on raising up God-fearing, young athletes in Riobamba. Joshua believed that God was calling him to start the first one. With the help of his wife, they launched a summer soccer camp in 2019 where they were able to coach, teach, and positively influence more than 80+ young soccer players for the whole summer. After that, new coaches were recruited and trained to carry out Cross Creation’s mission throughout the whole year. That mission being: “To glorify God by partnering with the families of Riobamba to teach and train their children to become who they were created to be, using the discipline of sports.”

Fabian Jose Vargas, only 18 years old, arrived in Ecuador 4 years ago from Venezuela and struggled to make ends meet. He would go out and collect cans and bottles to recycle to help support his family. In 2021, when Cross Creation put its main men’s team into the 3rd division professional futsal league, Fabian was one of the first good players that we signed. “I thank God that Walter, Mayra, Hector, Nancy, and Joshua have opened the doors to me at Cross Creation where I first started as a player but now have transitioned to youth coach. They have shown me unconditional support and have helped me to overcome many obstacles these past couple of years. I will not stop thanking God for all of the blessing that he has given me and I hope to continue here servicing in what I can”- Fabian Vargas