Ching injured his Achilles tendon last soccer season, and part of his rehabilitation included surfing.

"Coming back, my trainer told me to surf as much as I could, because he thought it would be good for my Achilles," Ching said. "I've jumped in the water a couple of times. It's pretty much why I come home, to surf. I love it."

Ching, a 1996 graduate of Kamehameha from Hale'iwa, plays for the Major League Soccer champion San Jose Earthquakes.

He ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the 10th minute of a 1-1 tie with the New England Revolution on Aug. 16.

"I still don't know what happened," Ching said. "It was kind of a freak accident. One minute I'm trying to run for the ball, the next minute I'm rolling around on the ground, thinking someone kicked me. I went to step back to sprint forward, and all I felt was a loud pop. It was pretty painful."

Two days later, he had surgery to repair the tendon. Doctors had to sew the tendon back together, but "it is supposed to be stronger now because there is more of the tendon now," he said.

Ching, the 1996 Interscholastic League of Honolulu Player of the Year and an all-conference and all-region honoree for Gonzaga University, was home for the holidays with one thing in mind: to get healthy enough for the upcoming season.

"I was off it for a good month and a half and my muscles atrophied," he said. "Right now I'm just trying to build up the muscles around my Achilles."

He went surfing a couple of times, but when he was doing his rehabilitation, his Achilles was "starting to hurt again, so I've had to cut back on some of my surfing."

Before his injury, Ching was third on the team with six goals and had two assists for 14 points in his first season with the Earthquakes. He started 14 of the 15 games he played in.

Even though injured, Ching remained with the team, even traveling for all the road games, including when the Earthquakes won the 2003 MLS Cup last November with a 4-2 win over the Chicago Fire.

"The last two games were probably the best two games I've been a part of, even though I didn't get to play," Ching said. "It was fun, and it hurt not to be a part of it, as far as playing, but I'm so happy for the guys on the team."

Ching, the only player from Hawai'i in MLS, will rejoin the Earthquakes at the end of this month for training camp.

Last May he was named the Los Gatos Brewing Company Earthquakes Player of the Month. He also earned his first cap — or international appearance — with the U.S. Men's National Team on May 26 in a game against Wales, becoming the first Hawai'i player to play for the national team.

"I had a good year," he said. "My confidence was high."

Ching was picked by the Earthquakes last February as their first selection in the 2003 MLS Supplemental Draft, which consists of players signed by MLS teams after January's Super Draft.

His first foray into MLS was with the Los Angeles Galaxy, which selected him 16th overall in the 2001 Super Draft. But he was released after that season and played in the United Soccer League's A-League, which is a level below MLS.