Chris Campos is the second-leading scorer on the Naples soccer team with six goals, and won the 112-pound DODDS-Europe wrestling championship this year. (Courtesy of Campos family)
Naples’ Chris Campos is proving he can excel on the field as well as on the mat.
The 15-year-old freshman is heading into this week’s Division II soccer tournament with six goals, including a pair of two-goal games.
Earlier this year, he wrestled his way to the top of the 112-pound class in the DODDS European championships.
“He’s been playing sports all of his life,” said his father, Carlos Campos. “He’s been playing soccer since he was four.”
Soccer, it seems, is in his blood. Two of his three older siblings played DODDS soccer: his older brother, also named Carlos, was All-Europe and a sister, Alicia, was all-conference.
“It’s like my family sport,” Chris Campos said. “I’ve always liked it.”
Having talented siblings helped Campos improve his game, according to his father.
“The youngest gets a chance to be the best because he emulated the older ones,” said the dad, the assistant special-agent-in-charge for the Naples Navy Criminal Investigative Service office.
He isn’t the only one who believes the young Jacksonville, Fla., native benefited from watching others play.
“Despite his age, he plays soccer like a veteran,” said Naples coach Modesto Guariniello.
Campos is the second-leading scorer for Naples, which enters the tournament with a 4-1-0 regular-season record. Only senior Dylan Montambo, who recently earned a soccer scholarship to Old Dominion University in Virginia, has more goals.
While his soccer prowess may be par for the Campos clan, his wrestling success is something new.
“He’s always been strong for his weight,” said his dad. “I’m more than certain what separates him [from other athletes] is his coordination.”
While it’s his ball-handling skills that carry him on the soccer field, it’s his ability to manhandle oponents that carried him on the mat. Of his 18 wins this season, 17 came on pins, many within two minutes.
Campos, whose only previous wrestling experience was playing around with friends and relatives, credits his success to Naples athletic director and wrestling coach Jim Hall.
“He’s a really good coach,” he said. “He taught me everything I know.”
Campos expects to continue playing soccer through high school and into college. He’ll wrestle through high school, he said, and will probably move up to another weight class next year.
“I think I might be able to do pretty well at 119, but 125 will be really hard,” he said.
