Roberto Escobar, or simply Bob as he is more commonly known, has dedicated his entire life to the game of soccer. From playing daily in the streets of Chosica, Peru, to his teenage years in New Jersey and his time at William Patterson and Hartwick College and eventually his years in Syracuse, Bob has contributed to the sport both on and off the field.
Bob moved to the Syracuse area in 1980 and began coaching youth teams in Fairmount in 1984. In 1987 he moved to Liverpool and a year later he started the Syracuse Blitz Football Club. What we know of today as the Syracuse Indoor Soccer Center or SISC, started out as a Gold’s Gym with one field off to the side. After leasing space from Gold’s for a few years, Bob bought the property in 1991 and shortly after expanded to two fields. He had pioneered the first dedicated indoor center in the District. Within ten years he had removed the boards to introduce another innovation – providing a realistic playing environment indoor.
With the creation of the Syracuse Blitz, Bob was about to embark on a path that would establish Syracuse as a hotbed of soccer within the state. His first Blitz team went on to win the State Cup and he never looked back. From 1990 until he retired in 2012, the Blitz won 75 State Cups. The Blitz program advanced a total of 81 teams to the Regional Championship resulting in 2 Regional Champions, 6 Finalists and 6 Semi-Finalists. They also won 4 Snickers Fair Play awards over the 10 year period in which the awards were presented.
Bob’s players went on to play on the US MNT, US Olympic teams, various US Youth National Teams, NCAA teams at every level as well as become coaches at many universities here in the Empire State.
Bob is retired and still living in the Syracuse area with his wife Heidi. Soccer is still in his blood however. He has a subscription to every major network broadcasting the game and if he catches wind that one of his former players are in town playing or coaching, you just might find him at the game.