Josh Sylva’s family is definitely a Neusport family, and he attributes much of his success in recent years to the club. It all began at age five when a neighbor (who just happened to be president of the Rainbow Youth Soccer League) spotted him playing football on the street and kept suggesting that he come play for the league. The Sylva’s didn’t consider themselves a “soccer family” but his parents finally encouraged him to play after further persistence from their neighbor. Currently, his brother and twin sister both play for the club. Michael Sylva plays for the ’94 green team and Maranda Sylva is playing two years up on the ’90 green team.

After several years with primarily the same team in the Rainbow Youth Soccer League, Josh’s U11 team, the Chili Peppers, became U11 state champs. The Chili Peppers joined the Red Hots Club for a year, then joined Neusport on its ’91 team. Once at Neusport, Josh’s soccer career really started to take off. In 2004 he won the Top Dog Award at Coerver Soccer Camp and his 3v3 team placed 2nd in the region after becoming 3v3 champs in the Got Milk Tournament. In 2005 he made the Nevada State ODP team, went to ODP camp and was on the U.S. National Soccer Identification Camp Selection List. As if that weren’t enough in one year, he also went to BYU Soccer Camp (where he won an All Star award) and traveled to Boston, Massachusetts for National ID Camp. In 2005 and 2006, he played on the U14 and U15 Boy’s National Team. Josh has always played up an age bracket – sometimes playing with teammates (and against teams) who are up to two years older. Josh believes that this challenge has made him the player he is today.

A star player at Centennial High School, Josh earned the title MVP and Highest Goal Scorer. He was also named to the All League Team and All Conference Team. Soccer has definitely afforded Josh the opportunity to travel. He’s been on numerous national trips and took two international trips with the US National Team – Guadalajara, first to Mexico in 2006 and then to Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2007. He also traveled to Costa Rica in 2007 with the Regional ’92 Boys Team. 2007 continues to be a pivotal year for Josh, in the summer he was invited to the U.S. U17 Residency Camp and is now officially on the U17 Men's National Team roster!

Being invited to residency camp has meant moving away from home, as well as other changes. “Being away from home at first was not bad but as we go on it shows how much you need your mom to clean your room or to wake you up. School here is ok but there are not a lot of kids in the school. The classrooms are smaller and we have about 10 kids per class,” says Josh. He confirms that the level of game play is also different. “Residency is different from club soccer because I am playing with kids at my level and the speed of play is much faster. Every player on the team is focused. You're expected to play 100% everyday. The intensity level and skill level are higher than club ball.”

The ultimate goal of residency camp is to either get a college scholarship or to go pro. Josh’s aspirations include both! “Some of my future goals include going to college. I want to play for whatever college I am able to get into and I want to try to work for that captain spot.  I want to major in something; I'm not sure what yet.  My near future goal is to play in the U-17 World Cup in a few years in Nigeria.  My ultimate goal is to go pro,” Josh says. His advice for kids wanting to get to residency camp as well? “The most important thing I can suggest is to keep it up, and keep it going strong.”

Josh absolutely feels that Neusport has helped him get to where he is today, thanks to many of the coaches. “There used to be Sunday trainings and I would go to try to get better.  Every Sunday I would hate to wake up but once I got to Davis Park, I would have a blast. There was also a Friday striker/goalie training session; I would go there even though I was not a striker or goalie but it would help me sharpen my skills.  All the club's coaches would come out and train us, and sometimes play with us.  I feel like they really cared about the players. I love the club,” says Josh. Mom, Marianne Sylva, says that familiarity is another great thing about the club. “We’ve always thought that (a benefit of joining Neusport) is familiarity. Most of the coaches know our kids and are always willing to help them.” Yet another thing they love about Neusport is the personal attention that the players receive. “When Josh was getting ready to go to camp, his coach, Victor Arbelaez, was personally training him, getting him ready to go. They always take a special interest in our kids,” Marianne says. When asked if she’s ever considered switching clubs, her answer was a definite no. "Nope, we're pretty loyal to Neusport."