Today I was working with the younger team led by Victor and company. The kids were in middle school, about nine to 11 years old. There were a few exceptions, like a young boy about seven years old, who was allowed to play up. 

Just like the two squads from the previous day, this program was also co-ed, encouraging more girls to get involved in the sport. The teams usually practice on Monday and Wednesday, so this was an unscheduled change for a Thursday program, but Victor said the kids were excited. After all, it was another opportunity to play the game they love. 

We were running 15 minutes late, busy pumping up the last few soccer balls. As I discussed last time, punctuality is everything for Victor’s team. His players are told to arrive 15 minutes early to practice and here I am arriving 15 minutes late! “They’re gonna make us run laps!” joked Victor.

We were supposed to practice for about two hours, but as soon as I finished talking to the kids and setting up a drill, we were told to wrap things up. Usually another team practices at 5:30, but they had a friendly scrimmage today at 4:00, so we couldn’t use the same field from yesterday. My heart sank a little bit.

Victor reassured me we could move to a basketball court nearby. There is no set schedule,but the teams generally know when each other’s practices are, so they try to respect that. Today would be no different.

We moved to the basketball court and jumped straight back into our active listening drill, which the kids loved. 

“I’m going to win this time!” One yelled. “I already won the past three times!” said another from a different group.

We broke into a crowd favorite, that’s more just for fun than anything else – where the kids have to bunny hop with the ball between their legs back and forth some distance.

 “How’s this distance, is it okay?” I asked. “Do you want it farther because we can go all the way to Guadalajara if you want!” 

“No! Asi! (Like this)” the kids responded.

As soon as we finished, we broke into a dribbling variation, commonly used in futsal training. It was a bit complicated since we had planned to practice on the dirt field so most of the kids were wearing cleats on a cement court. They were instructed to use the sole of their shoe to roll the ball with their right foot until they reached the cone. Then, we switched to left foot only on the way back. 

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As I monitored the lines, something really cool happened. I was watching the third team from afar and saw one of the oldest boys running back and forth between cones, even though he had already completed his turn. He was watching intently, encouraging each of his teammates as they took their own turns. As their concentration narrowed, he would calmly run alongside them, making his presence known just in case they needed direction or any help.

I quickly pointed it out to Victor. “¡Él es el capitán! He’s special. Excellent leader.” he said. 

We broke off into a water break, and Victor said to me, “We should do that mano o cabeza one now… they’re gonna love that.”

At that moment, I heard a small voice from closeby. “¡Hola maestro!” I looked up and saw one of the boys from yesterday’s session.

“Amigo, ¿qué pasa?” I asked. “Mi prima. This is her team,” he said with a smile, pointing her and her pink shirt out in the crowd.

I called him over as the kids circled up. “Remember that game from yesterday? Can you help me explain it to the kids?” I asked, just to give him a sense of leadership and a taste of coaching. He happily obliged and then I decided to put him on the spot to show the kids an example of the game. He and another teammate from yesterday both got their commands right and the team applauded.

I knew we had time so I reassured Victor and the young boy that there would be another chance to win. He sighed with relief and got back into the zone, practicing his motions for the next go-around.

As always, we didn’t stop at the last five and went around until we had a final winner – quick to celebrate with applause and congratulate with high fives.

Finally, we lined up to distribute prizes. As always, a new ball for each participant with the winners getting “first dibs”.

“Oh wait, kids, I have una pulsera, a bracelet, for you guys. It’s from my Mom. I know your team name is ‘Mexico’, so these should be perfect.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small bag of bracelets woven with the colors of the Mexican flag.

I walked down the line, with help from some of yesterday’s participants, distributing and tying bracelets around the kids’ wrists. About halfway down the line, I realized I was in trouble. We had about 24 kids and I only had 20 bracelets. As the line got shorter, I began to panic. Recognizing the situation, one of the older boys left in line gently pushed a younger boy to the front. 

“Give him mine, it’s okay.” he said. 

The captain from earlier approached me as well, taking off the bracelet already around his wrist and passing it to one of the girls left in line who was hoping to receive one. I was blown away.

I circled up the kids, thanking them for the experience and for giving me their attention and respect.

“I hope you guys had fun, I hope you learned something, did you learn something?” I asked.

“¡Si, escuchando! Yes, listening!” said one of the smaller boys.

“I learned how to do the scissors!” another added.

“Bye coach!” they yelled to me, as Victor and I made our way over to the car.

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We ended up going to dinner so I could thank him properly for the opportunity to work together. Plus, we were famished after two days of training. At dinner, we had a chance to talk about our programs, some of our greatest successes, some of our biggest challenges, especially during the pandemic.

“It’s been really tough,” he said. “The kids are doing the virtual schooling thing, but the internet is spotty, the technology is inadequate, it’s all just a really big challenge.”

“Here in Mexico kids are only legally supposed to go to school until they are 15, so the dropout rate past then is very high, especially here in las colonias,” Victor added.

When you are trained just to survive, it’s hard to think long-term, hard to weigh the benefits of an education past 15 years old.

“How have you guys been able to combat that?” I asked.

“Well the biggest thing was creating a scholarship program. It’s not much, maybe $250 per kid, but it keeps them in school. It keeps them going. We hardly even base it on academics, honestly. We target levels of need. Then you look at the desire to learn, the motivation. As long as those pieces are there, the marks will come and the grades will slowly improve.”

Víctor, you have something really special here. Gracias para dejarme ser parte del programa. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of the program!