Grow the Game®

Growing the game in Mexico
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Growing The Game: Operation Mexico

Editor’s Note: Please welcome Patrick Verdun to the LAS Nation!  Patrick spent a week down in Mexico and has a quick post about his experience.  Soccer wasn’t dethroned as the King of Sport, but a first interaction took place, and step by step, the Game Grew a little bit.  Very cool, Patrick!
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This summer I had the opportunity to attend a summer camp for orphans down in Maneadero, Baja California, Mexico with my church from Ashland, OR. After two solid days of driving, we finally arrived at our destination, Rancho Genesis, a summer camp that provides a wonderful week of fun, excitement, adventure, and learning for orphanages all over Mexico.

So for this adventure I packed 3 old lacrosse sticks and a ball, some clothes, and an inflatable mattress that happened to deflate underneath me by every sunrise. When the kids showed up after our first night at camp, I noticed one was actually wearing a lacrosse shirt, and thus I believed it to be a sign to whip out the lacrosse sticks.

Even with a language barrier I managed to communicate enough to get a few kids interested in trying out some lacrosse.  A few of the older boys in the group each took a turn trying it out, but once someone kicked out the soccer balls, all hope was lost. It was like this for a week; a little lacrosse with the children before the soccer balls captured everyone’s attention.

Soccer is really huge in Mexico and even bigger for these kids. Within minutes of a soccer ball hitting the dirt field the entire camp had been separated into teams.  While I got to teach lacrosse to a few of these kids, they taught me a lot more about soccer, but all in all it was an awesome experience and the Game did Grow.

Unfortunately, since most of our cameras were disposables, most photos didn’t turn out too well. But here are some really good ones that came out of the bunch.

My homeboy Raul
My homeboy Raul
Growing the game in Mexico
Growing the Game - Sombrero status
Rancho Genesis - Camp
Rancho Genesis - Camp