In Chesterfield, soccer unites Latino residents

Growing up, Adelson Escobar was taken to the soccer fields in Chesterfield County nearly every Sunday.
His two younger brothers and older sister came along to watch their father play, while their mother mingled with relatives and friends and enthusiastically cheered.
Escobar, now a student at John Tyler Community College, has kept the tradition alive. At 21, he and his brothers play in a local soccer league at fields near their Midlothian home. Almost religiously, their immediate and extended family and friends attend every match they play.
“It is part of me,” said Escobar, the son of Salvadoran immigrants. “It’s in my blood.”
Futbol is what brings Escobar and his family together every Sunday. And it is a vital ingredient in the lives of many area Latinos, who at soccer matches find entertainment, camaraderie and memories of their home countries.

On Sundays, the sounds echo across Midlothian’s Robious Athletic Complex. There is friendly yelling in Spanish — and English — loud exclamations of “goool!” and the blast of referees’ whistles.
Families gather here for long hours. They bring beach chairs, coolers and snacks and camp along the sidelines while the soccer ball flies across the field. The players usually wear patriotic colors from Latin American countries and are on teams named after Latin American cities or teams, or other favorite international soccer teams.
Young kids, still too small to be interested in the game, find soccer balls to play with. The women seek the shade and root for their husbands, boyfriends and sons. People from different Latin American towns reunite and share memories of life back at home.
At the park’s entrance, a food truck sells snacks, tacos and carne asada (grilled steak) with tortillas, salad and rice.
As many as 3,000 people visit this complex’s three soccer fields on Sundays, estimates Roman Garcia, who manages the Capital Area Soccer Association, which organizes a tournament that runs from July to November that attracts more than 40 local teams. Many more enthusiasts and their families visit other soccer fields across the region.
Sunday soccer is more than a tradition or a hobby for many Latino families, said Garcia, a native of Mexico.
“They come to escape from the daily stress,” he said in Spanish. “It is also an opportunity for parents to spend time with their children and for friends to meet and catch up.
“It makes us proud to have our women watching us play and our children learning how to play. ... We want to instill in them a passion for the sport,” Garcia said.
The sport, and all its meaning for area Hispanics, is part of the culture America celebrates during Hispanic Heritage Month, he said. The observation, which started in 1968, now runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 and honors Hispanic heritage, culture and the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the United States.
The Sunday soccer tradition is so strong it is simply a part of life, said Patricia Echeverria, a native of Honduras who organizes the Chelsea team, made up of about 20 young men from different nationalities.
“Nothing keeps us from coming to the field,” not even sickness or rain, she said. “It becomes a weekly celebration.”

Hispanics, now the fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. and in the area, have influenced the increasing use and development of soccer fields in the area, particularly in Chesterfield, where they have a rapidly increasing presence.
The number of Hispanics in Virginia grew more than 59 percent in eight years and now total more than 530,000, recent census figures show. Chesterfield leads the greater Richmond region in the growth rate for the Hispanic population, with an increase of more than 135 percent in eight years for a total of nearly 18,000. That is 5.9 percent of the county’s estimated population of 303,469.
Many Hispanic families, especially immigrants, don’t have the means to take their children on long and expensive weekend outings, so the soccer field becomes their weekly family entertainment, said Juan Santacoloma, the county’s Hispanic liaison.
With the population’s rapid growth has come an increasing demand for the use of soccer fields here, he said.
The area over the past decade has gone from having one international soccer league to four, and each league has dozens of teams that share the fields on Sundays.
“What is really interesting is that most soccer leagues, if they have a 9 a.m. game, they play and go. But in the international games, the fans stay to watch other games,” said Bill Carlson, athletic manager with Chesterfield Department of Parks and Recreation. “It gets very crowded.”
The county, which builds facilities based on need, has seen the number of teams increase significantly, and the demand for fields has grown to a point where sometimes there aren’t enough fields available on Sundays, he said.
“You can see that there has been some added usage of the facilities based on the number of the international leagues,” Carlson said. “To some degree we are very close to the maximum usage of the fields.”

On a recent Sunday, Adelson Escobar stood on the sideline with his family and some close friends as his team, El Salvador, dressed in the country’s light blue and white colors, played rival Costa Rica.
“Vamos azules, vamos!” he and his aunt, Martha Escobar, shouted. “Let’s go, team blue, lets go!”
About 15 members of the Escobar family, from uncles, brothers and sisters to children and grandchildren and Rocky, the family dog, had settled on one sideline, away from the other team’s fans.
The yelling in Spanish, and occasionally in English, intensified as neither team scored by halftime. During the break, the players grabbed cold bottled water the Escobars brought from home. Martha Escobar tried to motivate the players.
Adelson Escobar looked preoccupied, and he and the family began to reflect on a loss a week earlier. “We can’t lose this one, too,” he said.
Another loss would be bad for the team’s esteem, said his uncle, Walter Mendoza, the team’s coach. “We need to pressure them a little more. The goal is on the way, is on the way,” he said, prompting everyone nearby to nod.
Ana Aviles, Adelson Escobar’s mother, said the family has traditionally encouraged the children to play sports. Soccer was the family’s favorite and is the most watched and played sport in Latin America.
For the Escobars, aside from making Sunday soccer their weekly entertainment, the sport has been key to keeping the children doing the “good things.”
“There are too many young people that are getting in trouble because their parents don’t dedicate a day to them. Work is important, but so are the children,” she said. “For us, this is the best place to keep them — playing sports, with their family here with them.”
Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or .