I had such great fun covering this story for Hofstra University’s Long Island Advocate:
By Scott Brinton
The soccer players, all 10- and 11-year-old members of the Panteras, or Panthers, started to assemble in a semi-straight line in front of the net before 5 p.m. for their 5:30 practice on a recent Thursday, firing furious shots on goal, conversing at breakneck pace in Spanish and occasionally screaming in delight when a ball, booted from afar, landed squarely at the back of the net.
It was a seemingly chaotic, yet perfectly organized scene on a back field at NuHealth’s A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility in Uniondale on this partly cloudy, 75-degree day.
All the while, parents and guardians pulled up in mini-vans and SUVs to drop off their kids. Some parked and sat cross-legged on the sidewalk at the edge of the unlined field full of clover, watching intently from beneath the shade of soaring oaks while chatting in Spanish on their cell phones.
Within an hour, all four soccer fields there were full of children, many first-generation immigrants from Latin America, laughing and huffing their way through their practices, all led by volunteer coaches.
This is where, week after week, the New York Soccer Latin Academy prepares for competition in the Long Island Junior Soccer League and any number of summer tournaments. The academy was founded in 2002 to give Hispanic boys and girls, ages 5 to 19, a safe place to learn the fundamentals of the game that, for decades, has captivated the peoples of Mexico and countries throughout Central and South America.
South of the U.S.-Mexican border, soccer, or fútbol, is more than a game; it is deeply ingrained in the culture of Latin America, said Francisco Guerrero, a NSYLA coach who founded the club and owner of the Sanzivar Auto Repair and Body Shop in Hempstead.
“We want to give our kids the best we can give them,” Guerrero, 54, said during an interview at his dimly lit office, whose walls are covered by NYSLA team photos. “Everybody who wants to learn, we’re going to give our time to teach them soccer.”
Registration is $400 for the year, divided in two payments, to cover the cost of LIJSL registration and uniforms. For players in need, their families pay what they can. No child is cut. In these respects, NYSLA is very different than many Long Island youth soccer clubs, where travel fees and expenses can run into the thousands per year, many trainers are paid, and players, particularly in the older divisions, can be cut.
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