Less than a year ago, I reached out to Sabrina Flores of Gotham FC in the NWSL. This was around the time when we were trying our best to connect our beneficiaries with positive role models in sport, albeit virtually, through videos in which a pro would challenge the kids to a skill like keepy-ups, dribbling without looking down at the ball, etc. Then, they would share some words of wisdom applicable to the game, life, or oftentimes, both. We had done so with a few Hartford Athletic players and the videos had been well-received as a small addition at the end of each program. But still, I wanted our beneficiaries, especially the young girls participating in our sessions, to have someone to look up to, an example to follow, a role model to emulate. If anything, just someone to show them that they could play professionally too. Seeing is believing and believing is the first step to becoming.

“Hey, my twin sister is visiting me, is it cool if she hops in the video too?” Sabrina wrote.

“Of course!” I responded

Her sister, Monica, was playing professionally in Monterrey, Mexico and even represented the Mexican National Team. How am I supposed to say no to that!?

They recorded a video and sent it my way, which I then debuted at a co-ed session in Jalisco in May of 2021. I still remember the kids crowding around my tiny iPhone, “who is that?” they questioned, immediately followed by oohs and ahs once I’d ran through Monica’s impressive resume. And that was that, or so I thought.

Fast forward to just a few weeks ago and this newfound desire to enhance our programming by connecting beneficiaries with pro athletes representing the very communities and countries they come from. I explained to Sabrina what the plan was and she graciously passed along Monica’s contact number.

Her team CF Monterrey, commonly known as Rayadas, was deep into their season but enjoying an incredible run of form. She texted me and said she’d love to help out with a program and to keep her looped in once it was scheduled. I quickly got to work, connecting with Ariana, a representative from Casa Hogar Ortigosa, a school and orphanage operating within the city.

Ariana proposed the idea of an hour-long after-school session with 19 participants. “Perfecto!” I answered, with excitement.

Just then, my phone buzzed, “Is it cool if I bring some teammates?!” Monica wrote.

“Of course! The more the merrier,” I answered.

Circling back to my thread with Ariana, and now knowing we could potentially have anywhere between 1 and 3 pros helping out with the session, I tried to see if we could up the numbers. After all, it was a special occasion and I hoped that as many kids as possible would get the chance to experience it, kind of like our programs in general.

“Okay, how about we do a big session with our fifth and sixth graders?” Ariana asked. “It’ll be somewhere between 39 and 42 kids,” she added.

“Say no more! That’s perfect, I’ll let the players know,” I finished.

Airport customs took me aside and went through all my bags, but who cares this happens every time now and doesn’t even matter. I called an Uber and headed towards our apartment in La Fe, an unfamiliar region within the city. It wasn’t close at all to where I last stayed nor any of the groups we were set to be working with, but I wanted a change of pace and looked forward to the tranquility of living in an older neighborhood outside the city.

I settled into my new environment and checked in with Monica just to let her know that we had arrived safely and everything was still on for the session that Friday.

“Perfect, thanks! Everything is still good for us too, we just got our training schedule and our afternoon is totally free,” she said.

Barring anything crazy, the session would be taking place, so I breathed a big sigh of relief and headed towards a nearby Soriana to pick up some groceries. As my mother and I walked through the aisles, a big canopy with a banner sat in front of us. On it, three players donning the navy and white stripes of the Rayadas.

“That’s the team Monica plays for,” I said to mom with a smile, bubbling with excitement.

As we sat in an uber later that night, we drove by a big billboard with a few stars from the men’s team, Rayados. It seemed like everywhere we looked it was Rayados this, Rayadas that. Paintings of the “M” crest on buildings, and even my barber was wearing a Rayados jersey! We couldn’t get away! I hoped it was a sign of something special to come.

40 manually inflated balls and a fresh haircut later, it was Friday y el cuerpo lo sabía. I told Ariana I was on my way and messaged the address and final details to Monica. We were set to start at 1:30, but I was planning to arrive at 1 to set equipment up and get acquainted with the venue, PE Coach, and more. My Uber was driving down the freeway, 15 minutes until destination, his phone read. I had some music in, I was going through the usual clinic prep, rituals, all of that. Suddenly, I heard a loud pop and a thud.

“Oh no…” I thought to myself. This is where it all goes wrong, I feared the worst.

My driver pulled off to the left in the breakdown lane, as cars sped past us on the freeway. I thought maybe it was one of the 40 soccer balls carefully bagged up in the backseat, perhaps I had overinflated one and it burst after hitting a speed bump. Either way, I just sat there stewing in my anxiety as our driver did a walkaround to check the car, hoping I wouldn’t have to make an unfortunate phone call to both the organization and the players. There was no way we could hail a taxi or catch another uber here, sitting on the freeway, and a spare tire would’ve put us way past the 1:30 p.m. start time. As I began to spiral, the driver’s door opened and my driver hopped back in the front seat.

“Everything okay?” I asked him.

“It will have to be changed, but for now we are okay,” he assured, though I felt far from assured.

Alas, he put the car in drive and we were back on our way. With some unnecessary worrying out the way, it was finally time and we arrived at the venue. I was staying right down the street actually when I went to Monterrey back in 2021, so it felt comforting to be back in familiar territory, recognizing the same restaurants and buildings from a short time ago. I signed in at the front entrance and after a quick temperature check I was welcomed with a warm embrace by Ariana. She introduced myself to a couple other staff members and we made our way to the area where we would be carrying out the clinic.

Together, myself and el Profe físico, also named Esteban, set up a large grid of 20 cones with a ball perched atop each one for a huge listening drill. We were set up under a huge techo, thankfully because it was about 85 degrees out and let me tell you the sun was sunning.

It was a bit loud because school had just finished and parents were arriving to pick up their kids, being announced via a loudspeaker and all, but this would be no problem once the session actually started. I made my way to some nearby bleachers to change kicks, only to see three new faces out of the corner of my eye. Monica was the first and she quickly introduced herself with a handshake, returned by a hug from my mom. Next to Monica stood Christina Burkenroad, who I had talked briefly with about dropping by the session thanks to an alley-oop from Steph Ribeiro from Pumas with the contact details following our session in Ciudad de Mexico. 

The third of the bunch was Valeria Valdez, a center midfielder for Rayadas who Monica had brought along to help us teach the kids. She was a rockstar too, and a Mano/cabeza extraordinaire, but we’ll get to that later!

Our numbers had topped out at 35 participants and with our first drill already set up, I got the ball rolling. With the kids patiently waiting on the bleachers, many of them donning Rayados jerseys themselves or holding little squares of paper they had carefully decorated with the Rayados logo, I addressed the group and detailed the program.

“I’m extremely excited to share that we have three very special guests for today’s session,” I began.

Gesturing to my left, “This is Monica Flores, Christina Burkenroad, and Valeria Valdez from Rayadas aquí en la liga MX femenil,” I said, trying my best to contain my excitement.

A symphony of applause rang out from the bleachers, showing our special guests the welcome they so very deserved.

“Ok! Let’s begin,” I said, merely surfing the wave of excitement created by our participants.

We paired up for our listening drill and I motioned for Christina and Valeria to join me to demo the exercise for the kids. I ran a few rounds of it myself before I retreated to spectate, allowing Valeria to take over the commands. I couldn’t help but smile under my mask as I watched Monica going up against one of the boys in the session, him desperately trying to claim a victory though narrowly missing out on one. We weren’t going to make it that easy for them, come on!

Christina graciously joined my side to give participants an example of the first one, a basic push pass with the interior of each foot, before retreating back to her group. It was fun watching the pros and how the kids interacted with them. The pros were patient, and the kids were eager to perform to the best of their abilities, even to show off in some cases! Monica had a group of younger girls, and I watched with pride as she interacted with them so patiently. Encouraging them through each step, and praising them once the final product was reached.

After practicing some headers to prepare for the final drill, we broke into mano o cabeza. Two circles, one led by me and the other by Valeria. Christina and Monica on the outskirts of each one, cheering the kids on through it all. We did this until we had about 8-10 winners total, each receiving a custom bracelet formed in Rayadas colors, which are navy, white, and pink. Having expended a bunch of energy, we retreated back to the bleachers just as we had started the session, with the kids sitting row by row in front of us.

I thanked them for their time and their respect. Monica and I later said we were blown away by how well-behaved the kids were, which can always be tricky with a group as big as that. After that, I took a moment to ask if they had learned anything in the session. Many of them said the same sentiments, just worded different ways, mainly touching on how they learned a lot about how to control the ball “Que aprendieron a manejar el Balón”.

One boy evoked big laughs from the crowd when he shared, “Pensaba que era muy malo manejando el balón pero que ese día se dio cuenta que no!” (I thought that I was bad at controlling the ball, but today I realized I am not!)

Another girl shared that “Creyó que no iba a poder hacer las cosas bien pero que lo logró y que le encantó.” (I believed that I could not do things well, but I achieved and I loved it!)

Ariana shared that later on in the Casa Hogar’s corridors, she heard some of the girls saying how much they loved the practice and how they wished the players could come back in the future. After hearing some feedback from the children, every kid eager to give their take or at least share the closing thought for the group, we called our mano o cabeza winners to the front and gave them a deserved round of applause. They each chose their own new soccer ball, before opening it up to the entire group to choose theirs too.

With a new soccer ball in hand, a blank canvas of sorts, it was time for autographs. The kids crowded around our pros, handing off anything and everything to be signed. Jerseys, tee-shirts, soccer balls, those hand-drawn Rayados crests, and more. I’m not even joking, cubrebocas too. We were really out there signing used masks! They were getting their arms signed, their hands, whatever they could find. One girl even had a piece of paper signed five different times to share with her four closest friends.

The coolest thing was definitely the kids waiting patiently to have their hand-drawn logos signed by the very players that represent the crest week in and week out. The program reached its end and parents once again arrived to scoop the kids up, all departing with smiles on their faces and a bunch of autographed memorabilia in hand.

I turned to the players and told them we had bracelets for them too, if they wanted them. “Oh sick! I had been eyeing them on the kids. I’m not gonna lie,” laughed Christina.

Valeria was parked on a different side of the building so I gave her a hug and thanked her for all of her help in bringing the program to life. I walked to the front entrance with Monica and Christina and couldn’t thank either of them enough for making the day as special as it was. If I said thank you a million times, I’d still be about a million short. Monica asked what our plans were for the next couple days, them really only being a session on Monday and free days besides that. With a twinkle in her eyes, she reached into the backseat of her car and pulled out tickets to their game Monday night against Necaxa at the incredible BBVA stadium. It was going to be me and mom’s first time ever watching a game in Mexico so I was really stoked about it, not to mention getting a chance to cheer on the very individuals who helped us create such an amazing event for the kids in the city they represent.

Monica hopped in her car and warmly added, “I’ll send you my location and check in on you guys, just in case you need anything!” before pulling out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

I retreated back to the court and was met by a couple nuns who helped run the school. Collectively, I thanked them and Ariana for helping us carry out the session, before once again commending how well-behaved the kids were.

“It’s one of our pillars here, teaching the kids that the respect we give to others is the same respect we receive back,” which really did pull it all together and explained why things were the way they were that day and always.

We continued to talk about the session and how important little experiences like this are. “It’s like, so many kids dream of being a professional soccer player,” I started. “And today, those dreams feel much closer now than before. If we can see things like this, we believe that we can be things like this. If you can see it, you can believe it… and if you can believe it, you can be it.”

All with the hope that one day these young boys and girls might reach the same level, that one day they might be like us. But even more so, that one day they might be even better than us. That’s the goal, that’s the dream.