April Player of the Month: Lucca Deocariza
April Player of the Month: Lucca Deocariza
There's a lot going on in Lucca Deocariza's life and rugby is just part of it.
Welcome to our first Player of the Month award. We asked for nominations for a Player of the Month from our readers, making it plain that we were looking for high school student-athletes, boys or girls, who were accomplished on and off the field.
Want to nominate someone for Player of the Month for May? Fill out this form here>>
For April, 2022, our Player of the Month is Crean Lutheran and SOC Raptor Lucca Deocariza.
"When you think of Lucca you think of passion," said SOC Raptors Head Coach Sam McMillan. "He has this absolute will to carry all 14 of his teammates, every practice, every game."
The captain of the Raptors, he is an unselfish player who moves around different positions to fill in where's he needed—wing, fullback, center, even flanker.
"He embodies the 'play wherever the team needs me' ethos, but this also shows his talent and versatility as a rugby player," said McMillan.
Deocariza started playing at eight years old in Argentina. His mother is from Argentina and his father from the Philippines, and rugby has always been a part of his life.
"I grew up watching my cousin playing for the UC Santa Cruz women's team," Deocariza told Goff Rugby Report. "I had friends in the academy teams for Los Pumas in Argentina."
When his family moved to Southern California, Deocariza started playing with the Back Bay Sharks youth program. He was part of the Servite HS team that made the SoCal final in the 2019-2020 season.
He also toured Canada with Eagle Impact Rugby Academy. After the COVID shutdown was ended and rugby returned to SoCal Youth Rugby, Servite was unable to restart and Deocariza joined Crean's team in the school season, and the Raptors in the club season.
All of those teams have been successful. He established a pregame ritual at Crean that the Raptors adopted, captained both teams, played with the LA Giltinis Academy, and has been accepted to the Western Province Rugby Academy at Stellenbosch in South Africa for this summer. So, yeah, he's a pretty good rugby player.
"Every coach talks about wanting a Lucca," said McMillan. "He sets the tone, he leads, and he communicates. Life will take this young man far."
He's also a really busy guy. Carrying a 4.7 GPA, Deocariza is an excellent student and an intelligent student of the game of rugby. In addition he has been a Boy Scout since he was seven years old, and earned Eagle Scout this spring. He works as a life guard, and also when COVID hit he started to develop COVID care packages for the homeless in Huntington Beach, Calif. With that project he partnered with Mercy House to distribute the care packages, which helped homeless people get things that would help protect them from the virus.
"It was a great experience," said Deocariza, who wanted to enter the medical field. "Throughout COVID I tried to pursue avenues to do things. I like to work and be exposed to different things. My studies are very important but other things are important, too. There needs to be a balance. For me it's God first, family second, and then school and rugby are third."
Deocariza is currently deciding between a couple of colleges, all of which have a strong combination of academics and rugby. And that's how he will approach hit. He wants to be an anesthesiologist as a career, and while rugby is important, there needs to be a balance.
Lucca Deocariza is our April 2022 Player of the Month and as the recipient he will received $500 courtest of Next Phase Rugby to help with his post-high-school studies.
Nominate someone for Player of the Month for May here>>
