What this project is about.
In the spring of 2004, Benjamin Ziemer, Shawn Blakeman, and Paolo Bonomo launched a soccer league across Northern California — roughly 120 teams at the U11–U13 levels — because the existing options did not serve the players in front of them. The founding, one of them says on camera, was "quite accidental." Two early decisions shaped everything after: the league would run on merit — promotion and relegation based on results, from day one — and its Player Development Program would be free, starting with the first identification camp in the summer of 2005. The founders volunteered for the league's first seven years. By the league's twentieth year, NorCal reported 275 clubs, 5,800 teams, and 125,000 players (figures as reported by NorCal in its own history).
How the work was made.
Founders only. That restriction is the film's discipline and its credibility: no players, no parents, no outside experts — three people who were in the room in 2004 reconstructing the room. Where their memories do different work — one on the idea, one on the opposition, one on the building — the edit lets the story pass between them rather than forcing a single narrator. Everything claimed on camera stays inside what the founders can personally vouch for and what checks against the league's own published history, so NorCal can forward the film without a single line needing an asterisk. The film opens with a dedication card to the league's former and current volunteer board members and the thousands of players, coaches, referees, volunteers, organizers, and family members behind the twenty years.
The making of it.
- Role
- Filmed and edited by Leomar Moring.
- Shoot
- April 15, 2024 — founders' interviews, on a shared production day with the San Carlos United Spotlight (one trip, two distinct editorial jobs).
- Interviewees, with on-screen titles verified from the final cut
- Benjamin Ziemer — Founder & President, Executive Director; Shawn Blakeman — Founder & VP Business Development; Paolo Bonomo — Founder & VP Tech Department.
- Delivered
- Final cut sent August 20, 2024, with a 1080×1080 thank-you social cut alongside it.
On location.
A history film has to survive fact-checking from people who were there and people who were not. The shared April 15 production day was planned as one day of work with two editorial jobs: a team story told by its coach and players, and an institution's story told only by its founders. Desiree Hankerson's reply to the final cut was one word: "Okey."
The films.
Celebrating 20 Years of NorCal Premier Soccer
Celebrating 20 Years of NorCal Premier Soccer (9:30). Published by NorCal Premier Soccer on August 22, 2024. Leo's unlisted copy, with verified metadata and the Ziemer 0:46 thumbnail frame, is embedded above. Read the field note: Twenty Years, Three Founders: Filming the Story of NorCal Premier Soccer
Where the work goes.
Purpose (verified): the film gives NorCal's member clubs a shared account of where the league came from, shows prospective clubs and partners the principles — merit, access, volunteer-built — the organization still runs on, and preserves the founding story in the founders' own voices while it can still be recorded firsthand.
