Greg Levinsky
Growing up, Yasmine Diaz always felt a close cultural connection to the paternal side of her family’s El Salvadoran heritage. Yet in soccer, she imagined trying out for the United States youth national team.
The latter’s success on the world stage enticed Diaz, whose family moved to Belmont in 2016, but an opportunity to don the jersey of the former turned out as a win-win opportunity for the 15-year-old and her family. Now a member of the El Salvador under-17 team, Diaz competed in tournaments in Guatemala City; Willemstad, Curaçao; and Toluca, Mexico within the last year-plus.
“I feel so proud to represent a whole country,” Diaz said, smiling at the mention of putting on the El Salvador jersey. “Half of my family is from El Salvador. It means so much more than representing a U.S. team where none of my family was born.”
Her father, Alex, was born in El Salvador. So were her paternal grandparents, who watched her play live in her first three international tournaments. Her mother, Donna, hails from the Philippines. Yasmine could potentially represent that country, too, but playing for the soccer-loving El Salvador makes more sense for the family.
After moving to Belmont from Washington, D.C., for her father’s job, Diaz attended Butler Elementary School and Chenery Middle School in Belmont before enrolling at Lawrence Academy for high school last fall. The rising sophomore lives on the school’s Groton campus during the academic year and at home during the summer.
An All-New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class B honoree in her debut season on the high school pitch, Diaz — who plays defense both for club soccer and in international play, primarily at outside back or holding midfielder— burst onto the scene in a competitive prep conference. She also plays club soccer for the Lancaster-based FC Stars Elite Club National League’s Blue National team for players born in 2008.
Lawrence Academy coach Kim Bohlin described Diaz as a “standout well before” she enrolled at the school. Diaz brings maturity beyond her age to the field, and the coach pegs Diaz to play high-level Division I soccer.
“It is really rare to find a natural defender who is playing and training in that position at a young age,” Bohlin said. “She can see things ahead of when they’re happening. She’s going to be so attractive to colleges, and my guess is she’s getting looks this year.”
Diaz’s rise to a key role on the national team didn’t happen without some adversity.
After hearing about the opportunity from her sister’s former teammate, a member of the El Salvador under-20 team, the Diaz family looked for the next chance for Yasmine to get on the radar. In November 2022, the El Salvador coaching staff began its selection process for Diaz’s age group, holding tryouts in California, Texas, Arizona, Maryland, and New York. Each tryout featured a four-hour morning training session for the 40-plus players in attendance, and coaches cut players on the fly until they reached about a half-dozen players who received an invite to a final tryout.
Diaz attended the tryouts in New York and Maryland. A bit apprehensive to go all-out, she didn’t make the final cut during the Maryland tryout. Her father, Alex, suggested they skip the New York tryout scheduled for two days later because of a nasty weather forecast full of rain and wind. Yasmine objected, insisting her father take her to that Sunday session. She flourished, making the final cut. And despite a 3 a.m. arrival back in Belmont, the well-rounded student (3.95 GPA, high honor roll) went to school the next day.
“I needed to make this team,” Diaz said. “I felt like I had just let down half of my family.”
In February of last year, 40 girls, including Diaz, traveled to El Salvador for a three-week training camp. Her father worked to secure her dual citizenship at the same time. Diaz made the final 18-player roster and secured a Salvadoran passport two days before the deadline.
Diaz toured El Salvador and met her family there for the first time.
“I’d never seen them before, so going down there and seeing the family I’m representing meant a lot to me,” Diaz said. “Everyone’s just like, wow, it’s crazy that I’m representing their country.”
With El Salvador, Diaz played at left back the entire 90 minutes in all 10 games she’s appeared in, helping El Salvador to a first-place finish at the Concacaf U17 WC Pre-Qualifiers, sweeping the Cayman Islands, Curaçao and Trinidad & Tobago. The international brand of soccer comes with a different style from American club and high school soccer. Half of the team, like Diaz, is from the United States. The other half resides in El Salvador. Coaching comes in both English and Spanish.
Up next near-term, a tournament on tap for November, the location to be decided. Long term, Diaz hopes to make the U20 El Salvador team, and eventually, the women’s national team.
“I want to actually be on the No. 1 team that represents my country and stay there for a while,” Diaz said.