After getting the jitters out at our first program of 2022, it was time for our second. It was with some old friends from CDMX: Proyecto Cantera at Casa Hogar Margarita. We worked with Proyecto several times in the past, at Perpetuo Socorro and CAFEMIN. I was super excited to reconnect with the Proyecto team, but the program was off to a rough start. 

I was running on three hours of sleep and no amount of caffeine could save me. I arrived home from our program with Yolia on Thursday night around 7 p.m., and the session with Margarita was scheduled for 9 a.m. Not too bad, right? The kicker here was I already was running on fumes. I woke up Thursday morning at 3 or 4 a.m., literally buzzing with excitement about the Yolia program and the collaboration with Steph and Marz. Then my mind was racing after the program with excitement that the kids might get a chance to attend an actual game and that we may do more collaborations like this in the future. Steph and Marz were nice enough to pass along contacts from clubs in other Mexican major cities so we could run similar programs with kids all over the county.

Alas, it was time for the program and all my focus belonged there. In need of a wake-up call, and a quick one at that, a cold shower from my failed Airbnb roulette did the trick. I called an Uber and threw a bag of 11 soccer balls in there, for the estimated 11 participants we would be having in the session. My contact, Paula, was nice enough to set up the program on an extremely short notice, putting me in touch with Proyecto’s contact within Margarita and their coaching representative, Coach Roberto.

“Ah, Coach Roberto! I remember him. Can’t wait to work with him again,” I texted Paula excitedly.

Thirty minutes later, I arrived at the front gate and Profe Roberto was right there walking down the street! 

“Good timing,” I told him, with a smile, eager to reconnect with an old friend since our last program together over a year ago. 

As our participants began to reveal themselves, greeting familiar Profe Roberto with hugs, we quickly discussed the plan for the hour-long session. I told him we could alternate with drills. I would run the first, he could run one or two of his own after, and then I would round it up with  mano o cabeza, which was a familiar game from our first program. Finally, we would end with a full scrimmage. 

“Perfecto!” I told him, adding a fist bump.

The last time I worked with Proyecto and Coach Roberto, he gave me the spotlight, letting me run the entire session myself while being on hand just in case I needed help. But this time, I got to study his coaching style and draw inspiration from his drills so that one day I might incorporate them into our curriculum – which was definitely special. 

We started off with all the participants introducing themselves by name and age and then jumped straight into the session. After a fun couple rounds of our listening exercise, led by myself, then by Coach Roberto, then by an excited participant, we broke into one of his own drills. It was working on coordination, children sat on the ground across from each other, pairs working in tandem. One side, say the left side here, would roll the ball to the person across from him or her. The other side, the right, would then toss the ball up in the air into their partner’s hands at the same exact time. Over, under, over, under. Then, they repeated this with both individuals standing up. One would bounce the ball to the other while throwing it up in the air.

From there, Profe Roberto transitioned into a game called “Torpedo”. In this game, the two lines stood several meters apart, with a soccer ball at the foot of every person on one side. Then, Profe Roberto would pass a ball gently right down the center of the two lines. Each player with a ball tries to knock Profe Roberto’s with their own push pass. And whoever hits it scores a point for their team. It was definitely a fun one and trust me I was jotting down notes the whole time as a spectator.

After Torpedo, I gathered the kids in a circle for mano o cabeza. They all laughed and cheered as we moved around the circulo, playing this certain variation with a balloon – which was a bit more forgiving when it came to headers. After, we broke into a quick 10 minute scrimmage: Profe Roberto captaining one side and myself captaining the other. The kids yelled and cheered whenever they scored, as other kids at Margarita watched intently from a nearby stairwell. 

After, we circled up so that each child could grab a new soccer ball, starting with our mano o cabeza winners who left with another prize – a big round of applause from their peers. As the session neared its close, Profe Roberto departed just as he arrived, with a smile and a fist bump.

“I have another session, at 10 a.m.  just down the street, so I have to go,” he said, while looking down at his watch that read 10:05.

I had been invited by Paula to help run that one, but was pressed for resources with still another program to go over the weekend, so I decided to take the rest of the day and the next to let my body and mind recover. But I was extremely thankful for the opportunity to work with Proyecto Cantera again, and to yet again draw inspiration from their ‘sport for social good’ industry-leading work in Mexico City. Later that night, I received a text from Paula that read, “We are happy that you always consider us to share these opportunities with.”

CDMX always holds a special place in my heart. This city welcomed me during the middle of a challenging time in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic could have slowed us down, but instead we made meaningful connections that allow us to return and make even more meaningful connections within their communities. 

In short, likewise, Paula. Always.