Tijuana, Mexico (Part 1)

After just getting back to the States in time for my birthday from a Mexico-based run of programs in Puerto Vallarta, I was itching to get back to sessions with los niños. I had a little over a week of small birthday celebrations, capped off by spending the day itself, which is July 20, watching Chelsea play Charlotte F.C. in North Carolina with my first ever friend, my older brother. It was a really special couple of days spent reflecting on the past couple years and not as much celebrating accomplishments, but rather celebrating the company that had been present for each and every one of them. I still struggle to enjoy downtime between sessions but I promise I’m trying to be better about that. Resets are important and though I usually just come back home to fill my bags back up with equipment, I’m trying hard to fill myself up too before rushing back out there.

With all the birthday fanfare out the way, it was time to look ahead to the next set of sessions. This next run would be an exciting one, for a number of reasons. First of all, I’d be bringing our curriculum out to a new city in Mexico for the first time in a long time – Tijuana. Somehow, the destination had hovered around our radar but nothing ever materialized. After 30 trips to Mexico over the past two or so years, it was long overdue for us to do something out there. Secondly, I’d been in contact with Xolas, a professional women’s side based in Tijuana and competing in Liga MX Femenil, about the possibility of having a player come through one of our scheduled sessions.

My contact, Gastón, was super enthusiastic and added that he would likely be able to drop by for the session as well; the more the merrier! The player in question was Connie Caliz, who had just recently signed with Xolas after spending the previous season with Mazatlan. Her resume was impressive and her reputation preceded her, boasting playing experience in Spain after a successful D1 soccer career in the states. The culmination of that was a run of call-ups to the Mexican U-20 national team. Like I said she is the real deal!

This is secondary more than anything, but about a week after my birthday – July 28, Xolas were scheduled for a home tilt against Monterrey, so you already know I tried my best to plan things around that so we could support some friends both old and new. Now that we had a foot in each camp, I caught a flight into San Diego accompanied by my mother, took the trolley down to the San Ysidro border crossing, and then walked right into Mexico. Then I walked back into the States and turned around to go back into Mexico after realizing I hadn’t gotten my documents stamped. 

I settled into our AirBnB, a fourth floor flat just steps away from the border, located in Zona Rio. Exhausted after a long travel day, I went around the corner to grab a torta and called it an early night, as did Mama Dukes. The next day was a much-needed free day. We got to know the area a bit more, I dug into some chilaquiles and tacos, got a haircut where the barbers were taking selfies with the other patrons. 

“The guy whose hair we just cut is an actor on Netflix, in the series ‘El Chapo’” my barber told me excitedly. 

I got back to our flat and began pumping up soccer balls, knowing that the next two days, Wednesday and Thursday, would feature back to back programs before a quick return back to the states on Friday. I inflated 25 or 30 balls and called it a night, sending a quick message before bed to Connie and Gastón to confirm things for the next day. Gastón had some bad news. 

“Just catch an Uber to the casa hogar and I’ll reimburse you guys once you arrive for both ways, whatever you need,” I said.

The program was originally scheduled for 3:30, but we had to move things back to 4:30. I arrived early to set things up around 4 o’clock, meeting the kids, explaining our first drill to them so we’d all be ready when our special guest, Connie, arrived. In the meantime, they wanted to chat about soccer and started gushing about their favorite teams both in the Mexican league and abroad, including Club America, Xolos, Madrid, and Chivas just to name a few. Just as our convo was heating up, I got a call from Charly saying they arrived.

I ran outside to greet them, before heading back onto our playing space where the kids sat patiently waiting. Connie was decked out in her side’s training gear with a Xolas hat hanging off of her crossbody bag. I introduced her to the crowd of about 18 kids and they responded with a booming round of applause.

Having already been debriefed about our listening drill, we broke into two lines of it – first led by me, then by Connie. As promised, I reprised Profe Julio’s nariz de su compañero and was met with a sea of laughter in return.

From there, we broke into two teams for relay races, with Connie graciously demoing each variation the kids would be doing. After a few competitive rounds of that, despite our small playing space, we moved to ball control grids. We hit on all the usuals, and the kids killed it man. They were great.

About 45 mins into the session now, it was time to get us some prizewinners. I explained our game and hit a practice round, before getting into the real thing with prizes promised for the last three mano o cabeza winners left standing. Connie ran the next round, with only 2 possible prizewinners for that group.

Finally, we had just one winner for our third and final round.

“Profe, can we play just for fun?” asked a younger girl, softly.

“Sure!” I responded.

“Then, if I win I’ll give my place (as a prize winner) to someone else,” she added. Que mono; kids are the absolute best!

After that round wrapped up, we gathered the kids in front the same way they were on arrival, for a little post-session charla. 

“First of all, let’s give Connie a fuerte round of applause for sharing her time with us today,” I instructed. “Secondly, thank you for giving us your attention and respect today,” I said, this time giving the kids their metaphorical flowers after Connie had received hers.

“Also… Connie has a huge game tomorrow against Monterrey so let’s wish her the best of luck!” I said excitedly. 

From there, we gave bracelets to our prize winners and let them select new soccer balls. I set aside 11 more bracelets and gave them to one of my contacts at the casa hogar just to make sure everyone got one anyway. Then, the rest of the kids stepped forward to choose a ball. 

As they sat down, we did a quick run-through of what they had learned during the session. “Jugar en equipo, mano cabeza, mano y después pie, using both feet, etc.” were some of the highlighted answers.

Finally, to top it off, the kids all got their new soccer balls signed by Connie, each personalized for each child.

We hailed an Uber back to Estadio Caliente, and spent the ride chopping it up about the league, Connie’s experience thus far, Tijuana, and more. Once we pulled up through the massive front gate of the stadium and got out, I passed a hand-written card to Connie. Inside it, the same bracelets we had given to the kids – fashioned with red, black, and white, the Xolas’ color scheme.

“Oh sick!” she said.

Inside the card, words that I meant with every fiber of my being, and the same ones I’d share to anyone who’s helped create such special moments for our beneficiaries through this year’s Pro Series. 

“Connie – thanks for giving these kids someone to look up to both on and off the field. The game and the world is a little bit brighter because it has people like you in it.”