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3 worlds: Veliz blends soccer, trash, mariachi
10/12/2023 3:35:00 PM | Men's Soccer, Paul Coro
GCU freshman defender shows passion, aptitude for trio of passions
A talented soccer player, a mariachi band member and a waste collection enthusiast walk onto the Grand Canyon campus.
It sounds like the start of a joke, but there is no punchline for GCU's most interesting 19-year-old who brought all three passions to campus.
Diego Veliz is a GCU freshman defender who marvels each of his worlds by surprising people about his depth of involvement and ability in the other two worlds.
One of the Lopes' most pleasant surprises on the soccer pitch has the perfect musical pitch to play in Tucson mariachi bands and only talks trash if it means he is riding with his true heroes – garbage truck drivers.
When Veliz was in third grade, his teacher asked to meet with his parents because she was concerned that a boy would be bullied for sharing his love of waste collection and mariachi music. The Velizes disagreed.
"My parents were right," Veliz said. "It's almost like a popularity magnet. These people on the team eat it up. It's like entertainment for them, seeing me around in the mornings with the garbage trucks or having me talking about it or having me sing mariachi music on karaoke night. They just love it. It's so much easier for me to get to know people and put myself out there because I embrace what I like so much."
Veliz's path to a growing team role and starting his first match recently is a fulfillment of a goal to play Division I soccer, just as his father, David, did at West Virginia and his mother, Kendra, did at Boston College.
But as driven as he was for that dream, Veliz unabashedly has stronger passions for mariachi music and waste collection.
"When I play mariachi music, there's an immediate happiness and joy of playing a song I love," Veliz said. "At least once a gig, I have tears of joy.
"Same with waste collection, when I'm out there in the morning with the trucks, I'll have a huge smile on my face. It would surprise you how happy I am watching a truck pick up a dumpster or talking to a driver. These guys are my idols. This has been my dream job forever. I love the routes, the sounds, the operation, the uniforms. It's like my designer clothing."
Since the time he touched the guitarrón, a mariachi bass, on his third birthday at a Mexican restaurant in Tucson (pictured at right), Veliz has been in love with the mariachi music that has moved generations.
Those bellowing lyrics and romping rhythms formed his favorite music genre to hear as a boy, when he watched YouTube videos to learn about mariachi structure and progressions. His pleas to go to a mariachi summer camp were declined until his father relented and said he would allow lessons, but only if they came from "a big dog."
Veliz's base in playing piano, ear for listening to mariachi music, pitch recognition and YouTube studies made him a star pupil when he started lessons as a Salpointe Catholic High School freshman. He learned to play vihuela, a five-string instrument, and joined a historic Tucson youth group, Los Changuitos Feos. His first professional gigs were four-hour sessions with a three-player band harmonizing at a hotel restaurant.
Except for springing his talent in song on the GCU training camp's karaoke night, coming to Phoenix for college has meant putting away the vihuela since a quinceañera gig in August. Mariachi remains his listening music of choice, just not during homework. The deceptive cadences and 2-5-1 progressions steal his attention and lose him in the chords.
And what if a song, perhaps favorite "Pescador de Hombres," played over the GCU Stadium speakers during practice or a match?
"I would probably start crying, so I would not suggest it," Veliz said. "There have been times in a game when I get the ball and start running down the line. Something comes up in my head and a 2-5-1 progression plays. Immediately, I turn into a human sprinkler as I'm running. Everybody is like, "Diego, are you OK? Did you get kicked?' I'm like, 'Honestly, I'm not OK.' "
Nine years later, his infatuation with the waste collection process had turned much deeper with ridealongs and his waste collection-themed YouTube channel when he asked a driver's name.
"Chema," the man bellowed.
"I started tearing up and immediately recognized him," Veliz said. "I was like, 'No way, I remember you when I was a baby. Sabino Springs, truck 126.' It's easily one of my happiest memories."
Veliz went well beyond the Tonka toddler truck phase of garbage trucks. Waste collection is his intended career field and the highlight of each day. He rides a bicycle behind refuse trucks, when he is not riding inside them, and has recorded truck videos receiving about 275,000 views on his channel, Waste Collection Arizona.
As Veliz befriended drivers with his grandmother driving him to various routes after school, the drivers began to let him ride along with them since he was 9 and even operate some of the pickup duty. He went from knowing a circle of eight drivers in his neighborhood to meeing at least 400 drivers in Tucson.
"Pretty much all the drivers have said you can be a driver for six months to a year, but we want you as our boss," said Veliz, wearing a Republic Services polo for the company he aspires to join after graduating in Business Administration. "They say I can improve their routes and give them raises."
He kept up the daily waste collection pursuits at GCU, where he gets up six days a week to take in the sights and sounds of campus drivers. He does not play mariachi music, which would clash with the machinery that is its own symphony to his ears.
Before classes began, the drivers' shifts started at 2:30 a.m., and Veliz was there daily to start the garbage route at Colangelo College of Business, where he will earn his degree.
"People say I'm a square," Veliz said. "They say I'm an old man already. I am a square, totally."
If not for Veliz's other passions, a soccer future would have been clear for the 5-foot-11 defender with endless energy to patrol the back line.
With parents who played collegiately and his mother coaching Pima Community College in Tucson since 2001, Veliz had an early introduction to the sport. His first family home had a large enough backyard for a field with large goals at each end, and his father trained him there daily.
"I've always had a competitive drive," Veliz said. "Every situation, I've wanted to be one of the best on the team to keep doing it. If I'm going to do it, I want to be the best. I want to do it for fun, but also to be good. I was going to take it as far as I could take it."
GCU goalkeeper coach Alex Rangel played at Pima and first knew Veliz as the little boy jumping in training sessions at his mother's practices there.
"He's always been an interesting kid," Rangel said. "Very, very respectful. Very intuitive, analytical. He's very cerebral and likes information. As a young adult, you don't gravitate to a 7-year-old kid, but you have conversations with him and think about what he's asking to try to understand the whys of the world."
Veliz's tactical, task-driven approach made him a standout, known for speed and stamina to go with foot skills. He started on three Salpointe state championship teams before signing with GCU.
"I'm having to learn and learn quick," Veliz said of playing for the Lopes. "I'm happy to be surrounded by this high-level program and be training with these dudes every day on the pitch. It's pretty surreal. This is a huge step up. The analysis the coaches put into games, the facilities, the athletic training. It's a whole new plethora of resources I never had in Tucson. I'm coming in like, 'Wow,' this is a lot for me to wrap my head around."
Veliz, already a part of beating No. 22 San Diego and tying No. 2 SMU and No. 17 Seattle U, remains interesting to Rangel. At a team barbeque, Veliz quizzed Rangel at the grill on his heat and flip time selections.
"He's a very good human being," Rangel said. "He's kind-hearted and always understanding what's needed of him. He's a very intellectual person and a responsible kid. He's an impressive human being who is very surprising."
Most surprising. Veliz went from not playing GCU's first two matches to the Lopes going 6-2-2 with him impacting matches. Since the tie at SMU, Veliz has averaged 53 minutes with the reliability of a garbageman over four matches.
"Soccer gives me something to bring my competitive edge out," Veliz said. "You can't slack. There aren't not days off. In mariachi, there are days off."
It sounds like the start of a joke, but there is no punchline for GCU's most interesting 19-year-old who brought all three passions to campus.
Diego Veliz is a GCU freshman defender who marvels each of his worlds by surprising people about his depth of involvement and ability in the other two worlds.One of the Lopes' most pleasant surprises on the soccer pitch has the perfect musical pitch to play in Tucson mariachi bands and only talks trash if it means he is riding with his true heroes – garbage truck drivers.
When Veliz was in third grade, his teacher asked to meet with his parents because she was concerned that a boy would be bullied for sharing his love of waste collection and mariachi music. The Velizes disagreed.
"My parents were right," Veliz said. "It's almost like a popularity magnet. These people on the team eat it up. It's like entertainment for them, seeing me around in the mornings with the garbage trucks or having me talking about it or having me sing mariachi music on karaoke night. They just love it. It's so much easier for me to get to know people and put myself out there because I embrace what I like so much."
Veliz's path to a growing team role and starting his first match recently is a fulfillment of a goal to play Division I soccer, just as his father, David, did at West Virginia and his mother, Kendra, did at Boston College.But as driven as he was for that dream, Veliz unabashedly has stronger passions for mariachi music and waste collection.
"When I play mariachi music, there's an immediate happiness and joy of playing a song I love," Veliz said. "At least once a gig, I have tears of joy.
"Same with waste collection, when I'm out there in the morning with the trucks, I'll have a huge smile on my face. It would surprise you how happy I am watching a truck pick up a dumpster or talking to a driver. These guys are my idols. This has been my dream job forever. I love the routes, the sounds, the operation, the uniforms. It's like my designer clothing."
El Mariachi
Since the time he touched the guitarrón, a mariachi bass, on his third birthday at a Mexican restaurant in Tucson (pictured at right), Veliz has been in love with the mariachi music that has moved generations.Those bellowing lyrics and romping rhythms formed his favorite music genre to hear as a boy, when he watched YouTube videos to learn about mariachi structure and progressions. His pleas to go to a mariachi summer camp were declined until his father relented and said he would allow lessons, but only if they came from "a big dog."
Veliz's base in playing piano, ear for listening to mariachi music, pitch recognition and YouTube studies made him a star pupil when he started lessons as a Salpointe Catholic High School freshman. He learned to play vihuela, a five-string instrument, and joined a historic Tucson youth group, Los Changuitos Feos. His first professional gigs were four-hour sessions with a three-player band harmonizing at a hotel restaurant.
Except for springing his talent in song on the GCU training camp's karaoke night, coming to Phoenix for college has meant putting away the vihuela since a quinceañera gig in August. Mariachi remains his listening music of choice, just not during homework. The deceptive cadences and 2-5-1 progressions steal his attention and lose him in the chords.And what if a song, perhaps favorite "Pescador de Hombres," played over the GCU Stadium speakers during practice or a match?
"I would probably start crying, so I would not suggest it," Veliz said. "There have been times in a game when I get the ball and start running down the line. Something comes up in my head and a 2-5-1 progression plays. Immediately, I turn into a human sprinkler as I'm running. Everybody is like, "Diego, are you OK? Did you get kicked?' I'm like, 'Honestly, I'm not OK.' "
The garbageman
At age 5, Veliz ran to the yard to watch his neighborhood garbagemen each time they stopped at his house, relishing their waves out the window like young athletes crave a glimpse of their star idols.Nine years later, his infatuation with the waste collection process had turned much deeper with ridealongs and his waste collection-themed YouTube channel when he asked a driver's name."Chema," the man bellowed.
"I started tearing up and immediately recognized him," Veliz said. "I was like, 'No way, I remember you when I was a baby. Sabino Springs, truck 126.' It's easily one of my happiest memories."
Veliz went well beyond the Tonka toddler truck phase of garbage trucks. Waste collection is his intended career field and the highlight of each day. He rides a bicycle behind refuse trucks, when he is not riding inside them, and has recorded truck videos receiving about 275,000 views on his channel, Waste Collection Arizona.
As Veliz befriended drivers with his grandmother driving him to various routes after school, the drivers began to let him ride along with them since he was 9 and even operate some of the pickup duty. He went from knowing a circle of eight drivers in his neighborhood to meeing at least 400 drivers in Tucson."Pretty much all the drivers have said you can be a driver for six months to a year, but we want you as our boss," said Veliz, wearing a Republic Services polo for the company he aspires to join after graduating in Business Administration. "They say I can improve their routes and give them raises."
He kept up the daily waste collection pursuits at GCU, where he gets up six days a week to take in the sights and sounds of campus drivers. He does not play mariachi music, which would clash with the machinery that is its own symphony to his ears.
Before classes began, the drivers' shifts started at 2:30 a.m., and Veliz was there daily to start the garbage route at Colangelo College of Business, where he will earn his degree.
"People say I'm a square," Veliz said. "They say I'm an old man already. I am a square, totally."
The soccer player
If not for Veliz's other passions, a soccer future would have been clear for the 5-foot-11 defender with endless energy to patrol the back line.With parents who played collegiately and his mother coaching Pima Community College in Tucson since 2001, Veliz had an early introduction to the sport. His first family home had a large enough backyard for a field with large goals at each end, and his father trained him there daily.
"I've always had a competitive drive," Veliz said. "Every situation, I've wanted to be one of the best on the team to keep doing it. If I'm going to do it, I want to be the best. I want to do it for fun, but also to be good. I was going to take it as far as I could take it."
GCU goalkeeper coach Alex Rangel played at Pima and first knew Veliz as the little boy jumping in training sessions at his mother's practices there."He's always been an interesting kid," Rangel said. "Very, very respectful. Very intuitive, analytical. He's very cerebral and likes information. As a young adult, you don't gravitate to a 7-year-old kid, but you have conversations with him and think about what he's asking to try to understand the whys of the world."
Veliz's tactical, task-driven approach made him a standout, known for speed and stamina to go with foot skills. He started on three Salpointe state championship teams before signing with GCU.
"I'm having to learn and learn quick," Veliz said of playing for the Lopes. "I'm happy to be surrounded by this high-level program and be training with these dudes every day on the pitch. It's pretty surreal. This is a huge step up. The analysis the coaches put into games, the facilities, the athletic training. It's a whole new plethora of resources I never had in Tucson. I'm coming in like, 'Wow,' this is a lot for me to wrap my head around."
Veliz, already a part of beating No. 22 San Diego and tying No. 2 SMU and No. 17 Seattle U, remains interesting to Rangel. At a team barbeque, Veliz quizzed Rangel at the grill on his heat and flip time selections.
"He's a very good human being," Rangel said. "He's kind-hearted and always understanding what's needed of him. He's a very intellectual person and a responsible kid. He's an impressive human being who is very surprising."
Most surprising. Veliz went from not playing GCU's first two matches to the Lopes going 6-2-2 with him impacting matches. Since the tie at SMU, Veliz has averaged 53 minutes with the reliability of a garbageman over four matches.
"Soccer gives me something to bring my competitive edge out," Veliz said. "You can't slack. There aren't not days off. In mariachi, there are days off."
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