Potential In The Valley

 Mostly every Hispanic kid daydreams of playing soccer the same way every kid wants to be an astronaut or a fireman. In  many countries , specially Latin America, a child first toy is a soccer ball, and unlike the astronaut, or the fireman, the dream of becoming a professional soccer player is more likely to stay right up until their formative years. The Rio Grande Valley is no exception to this. During the course of the 2 years I've been in charge of my business, I've encountered a surprising amount of kids with natural born talent. From 17 year old high school seniors who can run all day withouth having a drop of sweat, and control what the ball does as if they were playing a video games, to 7 year old that can score a free kick from 25 yards away. Now if all this sport talk doesn't make sense to you, all you need to know is that this kids are good. Good enough to at least get their college paid for thanks to soccer, yet the amount of talent wasted is just plain stupid. I meet a guy last summer who would play between 7 to 10 games a day. The kid was brilliant!  The kind of person who you would see flourish the moment he stepped into the field. He was so good that sometimes he would text while running past defenders. He received a full scholarship to play soccer. Everything paid for! room, board, food, and even a freaking car. All he need was to graduate, and get a 16 on ACT. He decided taking the test was too much work, and did not even attend the exam. The only thing more frustrating than this is that he's not the first person I've meet who has done this. It makes me wonder. Why does so much potential in the valley is wasted? Is it just soccer? Is it the place? our culture? and most importantly what can we do to help?