After a month of rest and about a four year break since our last programs there, May called for a return to Mexico City and some of our familiar partners. I was excited to return to “El DF” and was happy to be in the very good company of my mother. As always, she brings the added benefit of free arts classes for our beneficiaries.

First on the docket was a Monday afternoon double-shot of programs with Escuela Hogar Perpetuo Socorro. Luckily, our home base was in Indios Verdes and I was grateful for the 15 minute Uber ride, which is pretty short compared to the usual. CDMX has insane traffic.

We arrived with 30 minutes to spare and I eagerly began setting up for our first Mexico-based session. Meanwhile, barely 20 steps away, my mother was doing the very same. We were running things in stations today: an older group of girls would train in our soccer program for the first 35 minutes, while Perpetuo Socorro’s youngest worked through a fun arts class. Then, at the 35 minute mark, the groups switched. We worked with them until the daily mass at 6 PM.

I started things off just as I always do. “Atención, respeto, energía,” I said, making sure our girls knew what was to be expected.

“Claro, Profe!” they answered, affirmatively.

Pre-program charla out the way, we dove straight into our listening drill before quickly transitioning over to a dribbling exercise. Then, it was time for 1 on 1s at goal.

“Naranja y Amarillo” were my two commands, with participants instructed to score a goal at the corresponding frame upon hearing one of those colors.

“Teamwork,” answered one.

“New skills,” answered another.

“No hacer trampas,” said an older girl while looking directly at another girl who had been cheating a bit during our ‘Red Light, Green Light’ portion of programming.

“Hey! We don’t need to call people out like that,” I said, making sure respect was kept present in the session.

After our chat concluded, I was more than happy to give away the day’s bounty – new Challenger soccer balls for each participant.

It was a full circle moment. Our first-ever session with Escuela Hogar Perpetuo Socorro in 2020 concluded with Challenger balls and tee shirts for each girl. We did the same this time. The girls were preparing to head over to their arts class, so I drew them in close for a quick briefing.

“Mira, chicas, después de ahora.. después de esta clase de fútbol, tenemos una clase de artes con mi mamá,” I said.

“En serio, Profe?” they asked, with excited smiles on their faces.

“Siiip!” I answered.

They squealed with joy.

“Entonces… por favor, si puedes dar todo su respeto a ella.”

The group nodded their heads in agreement.

“Entiendo, Profe!” they answered, loud and clear.

“Profe, podemos tomar una foto?” said one of the last girls to exit the pitch.

“Claro que si!” I answered, as we grabbed a quick one.

“Gracias, Profe!” she said, giving me a hug and disappearing into mom’s arts program.

With our first session with the older girls wrapped up, it was time for Perpetuo Socorro’s little ones to enter the fray. Boy, they sure did make their presence known.

“Hola, Profe!” they collectively yelled out, each armed to the teeth with plenty of arts from their first class.

“Disfrutaste la clase de artes?” I asked them.

They all nodded their heads in affirmation.

“Que tienes?” I asked, gesturing towards their (full) hands.

“Pues, libritos y otra cosas,” a girl answered, showing off her handiwork.

“Y pulseras?” I asked, knowing exactly what mom had had planned on the agenda.

“Ah… no hay tiempo, Profe, no las tenemos,” she said, her head hanging low.

“Don’t worry – you’ll get them later!” I said, with a smile.

I was just about ready to kick things off.

“Guys, are you ready for today’s football class?” I asked the girls.

“Yes,” they answered softly.

“I can’t hear you!”

“Yes!!!!” they responded.

Still, I remained unconvinced.

“Te gusta el futbol?” I said, polling our little beneficiaries.

“No….” said a little girl, donning yellow glasses.

“No me gusta el fútbol,” she said.

I was stunned.

“Me ENCANTA el fútbol!” she said, with a grin.

I laughed out loud, she got me good! Joy already on a high, it was time to kick things off. The session played out very similarly to our first one. Likewise, the younger girls, though requiring a little more attention and patience, were extremely well-behaved. We moved seamlessly from drill to drill, with plenty of laughs laughed, cheers cheered, and energy expelled.

Unfortunately, when it came time for “Red Light, Green Light” one of Perpetuo Socorro’s youngest took an untimely spill.

“Profe, look!” she said, with a sad look on her face.

She reached up and showed me her keepsake watch, which had smashed upon landing – sporting a spiderweb crack on its face.

“Profe, I’ll be back soon,” she said, as I shifted my attention to the next drill.

Within seconds, she returned.

“Look!” she said, “it’s back to new!” I was shocked.

“Can I see it?” I asked.

She wouldn’t let me hold it with my own hands, but the watch really did appear brand new.

“It’s a miracle!” I exclaimed.

With not much left to do, I brought the group back in to thank them for their attention.

“Can you come back soon, Profe?” the girls asked.

“Este Jueves… si tu quieres?” I asked, looking at sacrificing the one free day on my schedule, but very much willing to do so.

“Claro que si, Profe!” they all responded.

“Dejame ver…” I answered, hoping to work my magic.

The clock struck 6 o’clock, it was time for our little athletes to attend mass. I shepherded them to the chapel just before making my way to mom’s arts class to see how things were wrapping up over there.

Much like the younger girls at the beginning of my class, the older girls were leaving with plenty of art projects in their hands.

I smiled, noting the bracelets around their wrists, too. I thanked the Perpetuo Socorro staff members before turning to a young gentleman named Raul who had so graciously helped translate during mom’s arts class.

All of 26 years old, he was required to put in 200 hours at Perpetuo Socorro across a 10-week period, in order to fulfill university requirements for his foreign languages degree.

“Will you be here this Thursday, Raul?” I asked.

“Si!” he answered.

“Perfect… hopefully we’ll see you then!” I answered optimistically, departing through Escuela Hogar Perpetuo Socorro’s tall gates to our Uber waiting outside.