After a few days of rest, it was nearly time for our last session in this Monterrey-based run. The days off were very enjoyable because they included some kickarounds with the neighborhood kids living on my street in La Fe, just like back in March where I had given each of them a soccer ball to avoid flying home with anything but empty pieces of luggage. On top of the neighborhood kickabouts, mom and I had also gone to watch our friends Monica Flores, Christina Burkenroad, and Valeria Valdez in a big Monday night game against league-leading Chivas. It was a thrill to be back in the steel giant, the famed BBVA stadium in Guadalupe, after watching Moni and company play there back in March against Atletico San Luis.

Following some more familiar faces and places in the days between Saturday’s program and Wednesday’s, it was time to get back to footy and the niños. As I’d somewhat described following our first session on Friday with Hogar Ortigosa, this particular Wednesday class was a little bit up in the air. I knew we’d have at least one pro attending, but I had no idea from what team, how many, etc. As mentioned, Hogar Ortigosa’s Maria Alicia had already given me her blessing – stressing that if I ran the program with a professional it’d be a treat for the kids, but running the session alone would be just as much so. Like I said before, I was still determined to make sure these kids would get a chance to learn from a real professional athlete. Plus, knowing that this group was to be more than 20 girls aged 13-15, I knew just how important it was for them to see female role models reaching their dreams and accomplishing so much both on and off the field.

Remembering a phrase emblazoned on Moni’s jersey from Friday that read en la vida y en la cancha, I knew we had to do everything in our power to connect these young dreamers with examples of just how powerful those dreams are, and just how far they can take us. Luckily, the day before Wednesday’s session, I received a text from Christina “Burky” Burkenroad expressing interest in dropping by the program. A quick Facetime later, the details were finalized: a Wednesday session with Hogar Ortigosa from 1 to 2:15. I took back to my place on the couch, to finish inflating the dozen soccer balls I left for the session. Profe Esteban from Ortigosa had graciously offered to safeguard the other eight and inflate them, to alleviate a bit of the physical burden of doing so.

Excitement at an all-time high, Wednesday rolled around. My mom and I hailed an Uber to head towards Ortigosa’s campus.

Burky told me she would show up there early, and Moni would be rolling up just as the program began. 12:40 hit and I found myself rolling my soccer ball-filled bags through the main gate yet again, déjà vu hitting as I was greeted the same way by their friendly security guard.

“Just you today?” he asked.

“Nope amigo, Christina Burkenroad from Rayadas should be arriving here soon… and Moni (the same player from Friday) shortly after her,” I said, just so he could be on the lookout.

With a smile he waved me on through, telling me to head back towards the courts where staff members would meet me. With yet another warm welcome from Maria Alicia, we headed through familiar corridors to the multipurpose courts, as I shared to her with excitement that Moni would be joining us later today with Rayadas’ star striker, Burky.

“She’ll be arriving here soon,” I said, while turning the corner towards the bleachers.

“Who’s that?” another voice said. It was Burky!

As the girls sat on the bleachers, many of them familiar faces who had stopped by curiously after Friday’s class to solicit pictures and autographs, I was buzzing to start things off. Mom helped Burky give out bracelets, as the girls helped tie them around each other’s wrists. They had a bunch to choose from and their eyes lit up sifting through the various styles and colorways Burky had brought with her. With a new collection of strings and beads around each participant’s arm, and Monica now with us looking up at a grandstand full of excited young athletes, it was finally time to start things off. First though, two posters were displayed in front of our eyes.

“Bienvenida Burky!” “Bienvenida Monica!” each poster read, both signed Colegio Leon Ortigosa and Ninas de Secundaria.

On each poster, a drawing similar to Burky’s “Better Everyday” lifestyle brand’s logo – a soccer ball with a smiley face on it, which served as a simple reminder of the joy that this beautiful game gives us, no matter what level we play it at.

“Gracias chicas!” the two of them said, while I could no longer hold my saltiness in.

“Y lo mio?” I asked, slyly, seeing a couple girls turn red in the face. “Es una broma,” I said with a laugh, making sure they knew it was all for fun and they were totally off the hook.

Both posters tucked safely away, we made our way to grid number one to knock out our listening drill. As always, it was a big hit, with rounds led by myself, Moni, and Burky. From there, we moved to variation number two, with a line of blue soccer balls to one side, and a line of red ones to the other. When the girls heard “azul” or “red” they’d need to scurry to that corresponding side before their partner.

Other colors, like verde and amarillo, were used to try and trip them up. After this drill wrapped up, we moved towards Ortigosa’s beautiful turf field for a Proyecto Cantera classic. Each girl, equipped with a ball at their feet, would be dribbling in the space trying to maintain control of their ball while also attempting to kick the soccer balls of their classmates out of the area. With players slowly, but surely getting eliminated, we quickly reduced the grid from its full-length, to just half, to the 18 yard box, and eventually just the 6 yard box. Understandably, we had reached a bit of a standstill. Despite the incredibly small space, none of the participants left wanted to make any sudden movements. They each claimed their small corner of the box and refused to move, like they had some sort of unwritten contract. Knowing we didn’t have all day for this one exercise, I deployed my ace in hand and tossed a ball to Moni, telling her to make her way into the box to speed the game up and grab us a winner. As expected, it worked, with one of the older girls eventually emerging victorious.

With the girls retreating to the bleachers, I pulled Moni aside for some feedback.

“So we have a couple of options for the next drill – any thoughts?” I asked, having wrestled with the idea of either relay races or ball control grids.

“I think relay races would be better,” she answered, “They’re more dynamic, more interactive for the kids,” knowing that it would keep the energy level high.

Taking her suggestion as gold, we set up relay races and jumped straight into the first variation , the stationary stepover. Moni demoed this one and the girls watched intently, mentally preparing themselves to try to imitate her skills to perfection.

“Ready?” I yelled out, which was met with a resounding yes by the girls.

I began to count us down, but before a tweet of my whistle, the girl leading our middle line shot out of a cannon.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” I yelled out, blowing my whistle and reducing things to a halt.

“What happened?” I asked the girl, now standing back at the front of the line with her teammates.

“Did you hear something?” I asked, looking down at my whistle with perplexity.

“Ay no profe, I didn’t,” she said with a shy smile on her face.

From there, we hit a couple other variations with Burky and Moni each demoing different techniques for the girls to replicate. Moni demoed ball control with the sole of the foot, performing roll-overs one way with the right, and with the left on the return leg. Burky demoed dribbling with control in a zigzag pattern, always keeping the ball close to her, slowing down her pace if she had to and encouraging the girls that it was okay if they did, too. After this, we hit two rounds of mano o cabeza, with Moni and Burky manning their own separate circles of a little under a dozen girls each. With a couple winners added to the list, we made our way back to the turf field for a final cascarita – complete with a penalty kick, a late winner, and more. The girls were invested throughout, jumping up and down whenever their team won, with plenty of high fives and hugs to go around. The final name added to our list of winners was the last-minute goal scorer. Legs far more tired than when we first began, we brought the entire group back over to the bleachers for a wrap-up charla.

Before I could start things off, a younger girl tapped me on the shoulder, her hands hiding something behind her back. She pulled out a blue poster and turned it around for me to look at. On it, the same smiling soccer ball with “Gracias Stephen!” written above it, signed Ninas de Secundaria – Colegio Leon Ortigosa. Man I was touched, what an absolute gift it was.

Apparently, one of the girls had dipped out of the program to work on it while I was busy running one of the drills. It was enough to make my heart smile just like that soccer ball they had drawn on the poster. With a little chat out of the way, we began to pass out prizes. Each girl received their very own ball, and our winners left with drawstring bags featuring Burky’s “Better Everyday” mark.

An autograph and photo session later, the girls exited the field and we were left on the bleachers talking, just like earlier in the day before the program started. Maria Alicia shared some more details about the background of Hogar Ortigosa – how it’s the oldest casa hogar in Monterrey, and how 15 of the 22 girls in the day’s session actually live in the casa hogar. I thanked her for what she and the rest of the staff members do, reiterating that they were real life superheroes and true angeles en la tierra.

As we began to pack up things to leave, Burky heading back to her apartment, and us catching a ride with Moni – one of the sisters reminded me of my blue poster resting on the bleachers.

“Don’t forget your poster!” she said. “It’ll break our hearts if you do!”

“Don’t worry,” I said, clutching the poster tightly to my chest, “This is oro to me” I said, remembering the same, exact words a program participant in Havana had said to me after I exchanged my Nike USA training jersey for his Puma Cuba one.

Just like then, it was a special memory of an even more special day. This one shared with kids who inspire me and players whose contributions to the sport and world I admire tremendously. As we piled into Monica’s car and I got my hands on a letter one of the girls had written and subsequently given to her during the session, it was more evident that that admiration was more than shared.

“Hola sinceramente yo no se jugar mucho pero hago mi esfuerzo. Me llamo Lina y espero leas estos unos saluditos. La verdad es que hice el dibujo antes que te viera pero espero te guste,” it said, with a picture of Monica playing soccer next to it. Lina, shared how she likes to make little drawings in pen – maybe to her teachers’ chagrin. At the top of the letter, with a heart and a smiley face – it read, Para ti, Rayadita “For you, little Rayada”.