2003 YMCA Mock Trial
I, Kelly Quoc, hereby declare as follows:
My true name is Kelly Quoc. I am 18 years old. I was born on July 3, 1984. I graduated from Marchmount High School in June 2002. I will be attending Sonoma State University on a soccer scholarship in the fall.
I have been a teammate of Taylor Garrison for the last four years as I joined F.C. Ignition my U-15 season. I have also played against Taylor for the last four years as we attended rival high schools. Taylor is one of the best marking defenders I have ever played with. S/he is the hardest worker I know and the consummate perfectionist. S/he is always striving to be the best and always setting high goals for her/himself. S/he makes my job easy as a sweeper because I rarely have to cover for her/his mistakes, and s/he doesn’t make that many to begin with. Her/his tackling ability has earned her/him notoriety and respect from coaches and players alike and is what made her/him such a valuable asset for college recruiters and ODP coaches.
Not only that, but Garrison is a true team leader. S/he’s definitely our spiritual center on F.C. Ignition. When Coach Jacobs says to run after practice, and we are all moaning, Taylor’s the first on the line ready to go and leading by example. S/he always looks out for us making sure we are doing okay with everything. I remember last year one of our teammates was struggling in school, but no one knew it, and it was contributing to poor performances on the soccer field. Taylor never judged her/him, got coach Jacobs to lay off of her/him in practice and gave up her/his Friday nights for six weeks to help tutor our teammate in U.S. History. Of course s/he was no nonsense on the field, but s/he just demanded a lot of everyone without putting her/himself first, the way a captain should be.
That’s why I was shocked last ODP season when the captain’s band was taken away from her/him. The whole thing was just a misunderstanding between the coaches and Taylor. Our assistant coach had made the following week’s practices and scrimmage optional because of injuries and illnesses. Our head coach wasn’t there that week and was not aware of the change our assistant coach had made. When Taylor did not show up to practice, s/he was rightfully upset, but immediately announced Alex as captain in front of the whole team without even talking to the assistant coach first. By the time the whole thing got sorted out, Alex had already turned over half the team against Taylor, saying s/he was always self-centered and not a true captain. The coaching staff arranged a team vote, and because of Alex’s campaigning with some of the newer players, s/he won by like two votes. Taylor would never turn her/his back on the team like Alex was accusing her/him of, and Alex knows that. But Chavez would do it in a heartbeat.
I roomed with captain Alex this last summer at ODP regional camp, and s/he’s the one who doesn’t have the team in mind when s/he makes decisions. There is always this boy’s basketball camp the same week of our regional camp, and the boys stay in dorms right next to ours. Alex snuck out four times that week after curfew to hang out with the basketball players. S/he even ditched out on some mandatory nutrition and college recruiting meetings that our coaches are not supposed to go to. Plus every night behind closed doors s/he had someone new to bad-mouth on our team that s/he felt was a worse player than her/himself and would never get selected into the regional pool. It was obvious s/he hated Taylor too and would always try to provoke me, talking about high school and how Taylor had taken out my teammate Jordan James. S/he never said anything outright mean about Taylor, but I knew s/he was thinking it. Alex is really the one that started all the bad blood between Taylor and her/himself.
At half time of the championship game, Coach was all over Taylor for getting beat by Chavez so often during the first half. As we were walking out of the locker room going back to the field to start the second half, Coach challenged Taylor to take care of Chavez. I heard him say, “No more chances. You better take care of him/her, now.” But I did not take that to mean that Coach wanted Taylor to deliberately hurt Chavez.
I had a clear view of the tackle in the state game. Alex had been going at it with everyone all game, and I think we all wanted to stuff her/him any chance we got. Unfortunately s/he made a really good move against Taylor on the sideline and then did the same thing to me when I came over to cover. When I turned, I saw Taylor making a great recovery run and saw her/him slide in front of me at Alex. It was definitely a late tackle, but I don’t think Taylor expected Alex to shoot from there. I certainly did not. We were still outside the penalty box and, having beaten me, I expected her/him to take another touch at goal to sucker the keeper into coming off of her/his line. I think that’s what Taylor thought and was anticipating that touch and not a shot. Regardless, the tackle was pretty bad, but the referee responded appropriately and ejected her/him.
It was definitely not an intentional or malicious attempt to hurt Alex. Taylor plays hard and does not like to get scored on, like the rest of us. Bad tackles happen because no one is perfect all the time. Besides, that is what referees are for. They determine when fouls are too dangerous for the game. The referee did that in this case. I’ve seen so many teammates and opponents walk away from equally bad tackles. It is not fair to penalize Taylor just because Alex got hurt so badly.
Taylor did not kick Chavez when Chavez was down. S/he was jumping around and yelled at Chavez but that was it. I got in there real quick to protect Taylor from the card, but it was too late. Taylor was very upset about what happened to Chavez. That is why s/he did not want to leave the field.
I have examined the field diagram created by the prosecutor and agree with his/her positioning of me, Taylor, Alex and the referee at the time of the foul. I do not know where Jordan James was and I do not know Coach Lee or the other guy, St. Laurent.
I HEREBY DECLARE UNDER PENALTIES OF PERJURY UNDER THE LAWS OF WASHINGTON THAT THE FOREGOING IS TRUE AND CORRECT.
Dated this 20th day of June, 2002.
/s/ Kelly Quoc
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Kelly Quoc
