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P.G. donations boost Mexican youth soccer

A year ago, Gaetano Mauro went to Mexico for a holiday and it reminded him of his boyhood in Italy.
Ted Clarke
SPORT-mexican-soccer.17.jpg
Gaetano Mauro, a Prince George Youth Soccer Association technical coach, presents jerseys, balls, shoes and equipment to a group of young boys in La Penita, Mexico, while a young Mexican boy in La Colonia is all smiles as he ties the laces on his donated cleats. Mauro collected used equipment from his contacts in Prince George, and the PGYSA supplied the uniforms and 10 new soccer balls for kids in the impoverished region north of Puerto Vallarta.Photos by Dennis Parfitt

A year ago, Gaetano Mauro went to Mexico for a holiday and it reminded him of his boyhood in Italy.

He saw a group of kids playing soccer with a beach ball on a paved compound, some wearing shoes, most in bare feet, and it brought him back to his youth in Calabria, Italy, long before he immigrated to Canada at age 14 with his parents.

"I couldn't believe my eyes, they had nothing, they had two pieces of wood stuck in the mud with a piece of tree tied to the pieces of wood to indicate a crossbar," said Mauro. "Out of the 18, four of them had running shoes, the rest were barefoot. They were playing with a beach ball because they didn't have a soccer ball and their skills were out of this world. It was unbelievable the way they were handling that beach ball."

Mauro couldn't help but think back to his days in Italy as a young soccer goalie from a poor family.

"I couldn't afford a soccer ball and I would play with a ball made of rags tied up with elastic or whatever and it brought me back to my childhood," Mauro said. "We played on cobblestone roads with rocks on top of it. It's amazing I have knees left after diving on those roads as a goalkeeper."

The 68-year-old Mauro, one of the founding fathers of the Prince George Youth Soccer Association, thought about all the used soccer equipment going to waste back home in Prince George and came up with a plan to help the kids of Los Ayala, Mexico, fuel their passion for the game.

He approached the PGYSA and rounded up four sets of team uniforms and the PGYSA donated 10 brand-new soccer balls. He petitioned the soccer community to find 40 pairs of soccer cleats and a large assortment of shorts, socks, shin pads, goalie gloves/tops and equipment bags. His wife Marilia washed and ironed the clothes and with the help of WestJet, which agreed to transport the equipment, Mauro returned this past January to Mexico to present the kids their gifts. He arranged for a game between the kids of La Colonia and La Penita and before the game handed out equipment to both teams.

"Their smiles and their gestures and their happiness was gold - they took the stuff and wouldn't let go," said Mauro. "Even though some of the shoes were too big, they said, 'We'll grow into them.'

"One team won 2-0 and at the end of the game they hopped on the back of a truck, including me, and went around the town celebrating. It's amazing the enthusiasm and passion they have for the game."

Mauro held back half his supply of equipment and the next day presented it in Rincon de Guaybitos, home of the Paco Soccer School, during one of their mini-games played on pavement.

"They called me the Santa Claus from the North Pole and I'm still feeling it," said Mauro, who returned from his trip a couple weeks ago. "They're happy people content with what they have. Our kids do not know that life exists, but the people in Guaybitos don't know the rich life. It's two different worlds."

Mauro has plans to return next year to the same part of Mexico in Nayarit state on the Pacific coast north of Puerto Vallarta to offer more equipment to youth soccer groups in some of the other towns. He'd like to eventually start an annual tournament involving all the groups who have received donations from Prince George.