About us

Cesar Vega — Founder & Head Coach

My football education didn't happen in a sterile youth academy. It started on the concrete and streets of Lima, Peru, fueled by a culture obsessed with historic national team legacy and international glory.

When I immigrated to the U.S. at age 10, I played youth travel soccer in Worcester, Massachusetts, but stayed entirely outside the elite, high-priced youth pipelines. Instead, I leaned into street futsal.

That tight-space repetition and relentless small-sided play built the technical foundation and field vision that allowed me to walk onto the Clark University Men's Soccer team in Worcester in 2004 and play as a creative central attacking midfielder in the Division III NEWMAC conference across the 2004 and 2005 seasons. After college, and throughout law school, I kept competing in top division adult futsal and soccer leagues and tournaments in Worcester and Boston.

Beyond the fun and games, my adult life has been defined by public service, working as a public interest litigator since 2009, most prominently as a state and federal prosecutor. This is a career path built on rigorous discipline, accountability, and commitment to community.

I stepped into coaching in 2013–2014, returned full-force in 2018, and have since earned official grassroots soccer and futsal coaching licenses and certificates. I founded AFC Polymers because I became frustrated with clubs that cherry-pick the "better" players of the moment, chasing short-term wins while overlooking children with potential, who simply need proper development. That win-at-all-costs mindset is simply lazy. Anyone can manage a stacked roster, but real leadership is forged in the work of developing potential.

To understand my playing and coaching philosophy, you don't have to look beyond my ultimate football idol: Juan Román Riquelme. Riquelme didn't win by outrunning opponents. He won because he saw the game two steps ahead, controlling tempo and space with supreme intellect. That belief, that intelligence and technical mastery always trump mindless speed, drives how I see the game.