We were set to work alongside the same group of chiropractors we collaborated with back in Cabo San Lucas and in Puerto Vallarta. Actually, we first worked together just about one year ago to the day with our first ever program around February 24, 2021. That also was the first program we had held in Jalisco, so it was great to return to this area once again.

We were starting at 3 p.m., so I hopped in an Uber and started the 30 min drive out towards the park where we would be meeting. These collabs have always been interesting because parents will arrive at the park to receive much-needed treatment to their back, neck, spine, and more. Usually, they arrive with their children who don’t have much to do besides run around the park or sit around waiting.

Some partnerships just make sense, and this has always been one of those. As all things go, the give-and-take with this one is that programs tend to have a lot of movement. Basically, I’ll start a session with three kids and then five more will pop in when their parents arrive. At that time, I’ll need to re-explain activities or pause to integrate them into the session. Once I do that, sometimes the original three participants leave because the parent has just finished treatment and they’re going back home. It’s definitely a collab that has its share of challenges, but that’s life!

As we pulled up the street my Uber turned and asked me where in the park I was headed. 

“Wherever you want amigo,” I said cheerfully. “I’m meeting my friends here. Ooh, there they are!”

I grabbed my equipment out of the trunk and was met by a warm embrace from each of the chiropractors. I only planned these sessions about a week before, so they didn’t really know I was coming until the day before.

“Well this is a pleasant surprise!” one of them exclaimed.

I was then introduced to a couple kids who had been sitting around in the treatment area. Quickly, we made our way to a cement court lined on one side by some shaded bleachers. One boy, José, helped drag two of my bags over to the court, eager to help but even more excited to play.

I set up a grid quickly and we broke into our listening exercise. After plenty of rounds and laughs had passed, I kept the same grid and transitioned into stepovers and relay races. As mentioned before, the group numbers constantly fluctuating did complicate things, but luckily we had an energetic enough group to keep everything at a high level. After stepovers, I had the kids jump from the first set of cones to another and back, which drew a bunch of laughs from the group.

“Ahhh, ¡como pingüinos!” laughed one of the older boys.

As we retreated to the bleachers for some shade and a breather, one of the boys came up to me and gestured towards my bag full of soccer balls.

“Profe, my papá has a blue ball just like that one!” he said, pointing at a size three Sondico.

“Well maybe after today you’ll have one just like his too,” I said with a smile.

As the water break neared its end, the kids began to share about their favorite teams. 

“Me gusta Atlas!” 

“Ah ¡yo también! Of course we like Atlas porque somos campeones” I responded knowing that Atlas had won the league just a short year ago.

I gushed about working with the Pumas players a few weeks back and the kids’ eyes got big when I shared about our program with Steph and Marz.

As a group of kids left our session and a new group joined in, we broke into a full-field scrimmage. José retreated back to the field to say goodbye, holding a large tray of muffins he was selling on the street, but grasping a brand new soccer ball in his other hand. 

“¡Adiós profe, gracias!”

Three versus three with goalies so basically two on two on a basketball court sized playing space with a ton of sun. When I tell you I was gassed after just five minutes, I was hunched over with my hands on my knees!

The team playing against mine quickly racked up a large lead. 1-0. 2-0. 5-0. I  think it ended 7-1; we got smoked!

One of the older boys who had dropped by the session with two of his friends bragged about the scoreline, “Profe we already have 7 goals!”

I just sat there smiling because yes we were losing but I had also nutmegged the young player at least three or four times, so basically things were even! 

It was all good fun anyway and as they prepared to leave with their new soccer balls they approached me on the bleachers to receive an autograph on each of them. Honestly given the scoreline I should’ve been getting theirs, not the other way around. As the program drew to an end after about two hours of in-and-out playing, one of the boys who had been there since the start, Rafael, asked me if I could teach him some new tricks. Knowing that I had some extra time, I gladly obliged and we jumped straight into a one on one freestyle class.

First, the neck stall. From there, push-ups while still performing the neck stall. Rafa gushed with pride, “look Profe! I know I’m going so slow, but the ball isn’t moving at all, it’s balancing right there!”

After he had mastered that, I asked if he had any requests to which he excitedly said, “Can you teach me this one?” while performing what resembled a rainbow.

I tried to walk him through it, but it proved to be a bit too difficult at that moment. Instead, I taught him a different flick-up that I remember teaching my boy, Kevin, back in Guatemala years ago.

“Okay, so this flick can be divided into two parts,” I told him. 

We walked through the first one, then the second, and in a matter of minutes he had pulled it off! What an incredible student of the game. While this was unfolding, another participant who had been involved from the start alongside his sister, came running towards us curiously.

“Can you teach me that neck stall too?” he asked.

Before I could even say yes, Rafa grabbed another ball and walked him through every single step, just as I had for himself. He mimicked every movement, he said the same things I had told him just moments before. After just a few minutes, this boy was balancing it right there!

What a cool moment. Play together. Learn together. Dream together. But this time, we are adding Teach together. 

As I prepared to head back home, I asked Rafa’s protege if he had had fun.

“Ah sí mucho,” he responded. 

“Did you learn anything?” I asked. 

“Sí mucho,” he continued. 

“Okay, and will you keep playing in the future?” I finished. 

“¡Claro que sí, Profe!” he exclaimed.