Mexico City, Mexico
As we continued careful international travel, I found myself back in Mexico, as it is easy for us to get to while maintaining safety protocols. It was great to be back in the community making a difference. This trip we partnered with Proyecto Cantera, an organization that works with children’s homes, refugee centers and schools in Mexico City, and Escuela Hogar Perpetuo Socorro, a children’s home in the area. Proyecto Cantera usually runs a tournament every year that brings teams from different organizations together, which shows soccer’s ability to unite kids in a safe and level playing field. We hoped to do the same on this particular day, albeit in a small, condensed manner.
This was my second time in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. I found myself there in 2019 during the hot summer, where I ran two sessions. I sound like a broken record now, but I knew this trip would be different, as Proyecto Cantera was very cautious about in person programming during the COVID-19 pandemic. I worked with girls from age 7 to 14 during the warm September day.
As always, I arrived a bit early to the session to prepare the equipment, setting up grids six feet apart to accommodate social distancing. As the girls arrived, I handed them each a card with positive messages of affirmation from one of our giving partners, Voya Financial. Along with the message, the card contained a number. As we called the number, each girl got to pick a colored soccer ball that would be hers! Once we had our equipment we were ready to go.
We started with individual technique drills to get our bodies moving and warm. Then, we worked on active listening, effective communication and training our reflexes.
After these drills, we moved into a bit of competition, where I divided the participants into teams for a quick scrimmage and freestyle trick practice.
A moment that was so powerful came when their feet were still and the balls were on the sideline. Before the game began, both teams did a modified gesture of good luck similar to what one would typically see before kickoff, putting sportsmanship first and the game second. Isn’t it funny how some of the most beautiful moments of our soccer programs have nothing to do with soccer at all? Our game ended in a 2-1 final score, with the older girls edging out the little ones who were also playing with one of the coaches!
Every participant also went home with a handmade bracelet and bookmark, all soccer related of course. As we caught our breath and got some water, I asked if the girls had fun and if they learned something. I am always nervous with these questions because kids will be brutally honest! They all had fun and told me they loved learning stepovers, Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous trick that we learned earlier in the session. As we chatted after the session, I got to learn more about the participants. One girl even spoke a little bit of Korean, which made me reach deep in my memory bank for some words I learned while running a program in Seoul years ago. “I don’t know much, but I know this,” I said, making the little heart with my thumb and index finger. They would smile and do it right back.
As the girls gathered their things to leave, I remembered I had one more surprise for them. “Chicas, un segundo por favor,” I yelled. I reached deep into my backpack for a Mexico jersey that I brought with me. “I would like your autographs,” I said. After writing and signing, they came up to me asking for my signature on their new gear. As I was signing, two administrators came over to me saying, “You are always welcome here… I hope one day you can return with your mother so we can thank her too [for the bookmarks and bracelets]”.
We ran 40 minutes late on the program’s schedule and after cleaning up, I called my Uber to head out, 7-minutes away the phone said when a girl came running out. “Coach, we were wondering if we could sing you a song before you leave.” I glanced at the phone, 6-minutes away. “Yes, of course!,” I exclaimed. I went back to the cafeteria and the girls gathered around the piano, singing in beautiful harmony with gusto. After a few verses, I gave the girls a thunderous round of applause and added one last message. “¡Próxima parada, la voz México!” meaning “Next stop, The Voice Mexico!” They beamed from ear to ear and bid me farewell as I walked outside to see my Uber leaving without me in it. Turning to another coach and laughing, he said “you know it’s impossible to say no to those girls”, which was the truth, but it was all worth it. Girls, if you are reading this, play hard and dream big because you deserve the world.
