Peace Building Through Football (Soccer)

Soccer becomes a practical pathway to peace when we pair skills training with family-focused lessons on respect, safety, and belonging. Ron and Marcos share how a “Soccer Plus” model that began in 1994 now scales through Rotary to serve kids from Cabo San Lucas to communities across Africa. 

• defining Harmony Through Soccer as peace building through football 
• tracing the origin story from Boy Scouts outreach in 1994 
• using soccer as a universal entryway into families and communities 
• combining a skills clinic with social emotional learning and parent engagement 
• focusing on anti-bullying, gang prevention, good citizenship, and healthy families 
• connecting the program to Rotary’s Four-Way Test and areas of focus 
• designing a model that is inclusive, local, measurable, and easy to replicate 
• planning partnerships, funding paths, and safe delivery with youth protection 

You can head over to YouTube and you can go to the Action to Impact Podcast Videocast. 
If you're interested in helping the keep the shows strong, do check out uh my buzz route. 
And last, if you have somebody that would be great on the show from anywhere in the world who is turning their actions into impact, let me know. RotarianPod at gmail.com.

Transcript

Welcome And The Big Idea

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi there everyone, I'm Gwen Jones, and welcome once again to the Action Impact Podcast, my weekly podcast where I introduce you to amazing people from all over the world that are turning their actions into impact. Well, this week I'm gonna talk about the world of international football. Now, before you all roll your eyes and go, wait a second, when's podcast is turned into like a sports cast? Well, I have had art shows before, and let's make it perfectly clear, I'm not gonna compete ever with ESPN. But what I can do is introduce you to two Rotarians that are turning their actions into impact through the world of talk. Or football. That is what it's called to the rest of the world besides America. Anyhow, football is the most played sport all over the world. And what if football could be a conduit to safety and self-sufficiency and self-respect? And well, that's enough kids. Let's get to the conversation, shall we? I'm gonna introduce you to two gentlemen that are turning football into fabulous kids. Like here this week. And as always, I'm so glad you've joined me for the show. The video show, the podcast show. I know we're we're now on multi-platform. So thank you guys for putting up with me until I got my act together on that one. But welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. As you see by your screen, I got I got multiple guys on the screen today. It's very cool. I have Ron Show Sho N M L. Guy, see, I did it. And it says he's from San Diego. That's our that's if you guys are all looking at that, that's my top left-hand corner. If you're listening to that, hey, I butchered his name, but you guys are getting used to that. And then I have Marcos Nava, who's also joining me. And these gentlemen, one brand new, that would be Marcos. And the other one, Ron, I met years ago in Houston, and I finally have gotten him on the show. And the main reason is soccer or football for all you people who are out of North America that like to call it football, even though soccer, gotta put this in, gentlemen, is a British thing. Y'all invented that that that word soccer, Brits, but they don't like it. But we like it. Soccer and football is a huge part of my life. And Ron, who is a proud member of Rotary, and Marcos, who has redrunk the Kool-Aid and is back into the Rotary world again with us. We're gonna talk about soccer, but more specifically, because the podcast is action to impact, we're gonna talk about how Ron and Marcos have actually taken soccer and turned it not only into the world's greatest game, but a way to make impact in the world in one of many ways. So, Ron, Marcos, welcome to the show. It's great to finally have you, Ron, and great to meet you, Marcos.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Thank you, Glenn.

What Harmony Through Soccer Means

SPEAKER_00 3:45

So who wants to take the lead? Because let's hit right off the bat by telling the world what is harmony through soccer. I mean, the three of us know harmony through soccer, like every other day when we're watching a match, but I don't think that's exactly what this harmony through soccer is all about.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

It's really, I would say it's there's two ways to phrase it. One is soccer plus. Okay, and the other is peace building through soccer. What we've done for the last two years in Cabo San Lucas, where our our club president is for the Rotary E Club of One World. We have done a program where we bring kids in from the local community in Cabo San Lucas. They meet with a professional soccer team, they do a skills clinic so that they learn the FIFA. Is it FIFA or FIFA? FIFA, FIFA, FIFA FIFA rules for soccer playing. They learn how to do all that kind of stuff on a soccer pitch. And then a local charity that does social emotional learning, good citizenship stuff, teaches the families, the parents, and their brothers and brothers and sisters peace building. So it's anti-gangs, anti-bullying, good citizenship stuff. They're in their Cabo San Lucas community to build that up within their area. And this is not new.

The 1994 Soccer Scouting Origin

SPEAKER_00 5:27

I was gonna say when before we went on, Marcos, you were saying that this is this is goes back all the way to 1994.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

Yes, uh, when back in 1994, Ron and I worked together at the uh Boy Scouts, and I was assigned to work in a community that was predominantly Hispanic. Okay, so there scouting was not really attuned, not really connecting to the community in both ways. And I thought, well, you know, we've been to XYC elementary school five times. So if we go another time, the sixth time, we're gonna get the same results.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

It's about six times the charm, but no, right.

SPEAKER_03 6:15

Okay, so I thought, why don't we try soccer? We know as as a mexicano, I know that soccer is accepted 99.9% in in a home. And they know and we know how to play it, or we think we know how to play it. Yes, and and and we started promoting a school night saying, come and learn Boy Scouts along with soccer. Okay, it took off all of a sudden we started getting 15, 20 families to come and find out what is it that we were talking about. So soon we got the families on the field, we were promoting the values of scouting, being a good citizenship, doing your best, being kind to people, and playing soccer, and it took off. And it took off, and and from there on we took it not only in Orange County, I was able to take it all up and down the West Coast in the United States, and then later on through the national uh uh office.

Soccer As A Universal Doorway

SPEAKER_00 7:29

So, Ron, I Marcos thought of uh said something was very interesting that he used the words that he was allowed to bring soccer into people's homes. And I find that very interesting because you know, if you if if you uh you you know, blessings to the Seventh day of Venice that try and knock on my door all the time and and want to come in and tell me all about everything. So religion is usually not the easiest way to get through a front door, rotary, although trusted, and Boy Scouts, which has gotten a much, much better, beautiful reputation over the last couple of years, they're not always what people think of. Is soccer this was soccer really this unknown entryway? Is it really this universal entryway?

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Yeah, I I I've been talking to some folks. Ours is a club that reaches out to six continents, and we have four members in Africa, and I've been talking to some folks in Kenya and Uganda and Ghana and Nigeria, and soccer is part and parcel of their life there in those areas. Oscar, my friend in Kenya, has a refugee camp where he's working with kids and families in Kenya, and they're using soccer and they're excited about being able to put in a peace-building element to that soccer program. My friend David in Uganda has already started doing that in Uganda. And I've when I show my PowerPoint later on, I'll I'll share the slides. They're they're playing soccer in Uganda with plastic bags wrapped up in banana leagues, banana leaves, because they don't have money for a soccer ball. And but they're teaching that within their schools there in Uganda. So it's it's it's a ready-made entryway to open the doors for us in Rotary to build peace and kids.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

So, so Marcos, you you mentioned that you teach these these kids good stewardship, and you come from a Boy Scout background where we are, I do believe it is was five principles. I was a Girl Scout, so I think it, you know, it was, I still remember the on my honor, I will try to do my best for, you know, I believe it was God in my country and always obey the Girl Scout laws or something to that. I'm gonna be 60, so it's been a while since I've had my three fingers up to do that. But it's it would you say that you used Rotary and or the Boy Scouts as kind of like the fundamental model, and then we're gonna sprinkle in a little bit of like the sugar cube for polio is soccer, and then all of a sudden you've got soccer that it's easy to get these principles in. Soccer, the easy gateway.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

My my approach was to promote uh a new pro a new a new program. In this case was was the Boy Scouts, and and entice them to come and and and participate in in something that they knew very well, that they felt comfortable doing, that it uh was easy to to do, it doesn't take much to play soccer, open field, a ball, and that's it. And then later on you can add more things to it, but uh it was just making sure that they felt comfortable with something that they can show uh their kids that they can participate with them and they would be able to support them on this activity. Because if we were going in and saying, hey, come and do the Boy Scouts, and and we're gonna go camping and we're gonna do this and that and the advancements, and it was like what? But when we said we said, Hey, come and do this, soccer, we're gonna play, and this and that, and then afterwards we're gonna learn about the Boy Scouts, and this is what we're gonna learn today, and then this is what we're gonna learn the next week, and so on and so forth.

Cabo Program And Peace Curriculum

SPEAKER_00 12:00

People were more willing to participate and and and be part of so then, Ron, you've decided to take Marcos' the basic formula way back in 1994, and you're using it now instead of Boy Scouts per se, you're using it as a peace building process. Is that an easy way to say it?

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Exactamente. So in Capo San Lucas with our president Mimi Romero Guzman, uh, she's been doing it for the last two years, have has had about 200 children and their families go through the program. And I would say soccer is the sugar and peace building is the spice. So the families accept the soccer program because it's something they know, they love, they understand. The kids are dying to enhance their soccer skills. They love the fact that they get a meet with the professional soccer team in Cabo San Lucas. And then the charity there in Cabo San Lucas adds the spice to the program by talking about anti-bullying, anti-gangs, good citizenship. And in the scouts, we would say trustworthy, loyal, hopefully, friendly, yada, yada, yada. But in Rotary, we're talking about those elements to peace building, to literacy and education, to the many of the areas, at least four of the areas of the areas of focus in Rotary's strategic plan. The the great thing about this program, as I was getting ready to be president of our club, is that it's easy to replicate anywhere in the world because now anywhere in the world has soccer or football. Right. And anywhere in the world has rotary, and rotary wants to touch the lives of children and families and build peace in the local community. And so we can take it to uh a meeting on Friday with the folks in Santa Clara to do a program, hopefully, with the earthquakes up there. I want to do the program here in San Jose, uh San Diego with the local ladies soccer team, the WAVE.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

The WAVE, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

And I want to use, I think, the University of San Diego, which has a peace institute, to bring in the the peace building element. And so it it just it just seems like, well, why not? It just is just so simple to make it happen.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Do you think there's fundamentals in how to play soccer? And is there a through line, I should say, between soccer and rotary? Is there is there things that you need to be a better soccer player and therefore to be a better Rotarian andor a better Boy Scout? But we're specifically talking rotary these days. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah, I I I totally agree. The the principles of rotary, as embodied in the four-way test, are really part and parcel of how we want our kids to play soccer. Is it the truth? Is it affair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and friendships?

SPEAKER_02 15:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

And is it beneficial to others? And if they learn those basic, simple principles, other than the 12 points of the scout law.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Right. That's 12. Now only four compared to 12 is is easier for me.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

So yeah, much easier. That's part and parcel how we will be able to instill, inculcate into those kids and those families the values of rotary and bring that to their local community.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

So, Marcos and thank you for coming back there. You seem to be a very busy guy. You're popping out doing a hundred things. So thank you for joining back. But when you when you started this in 1994, did you just think it was going to be a scouting thing? I mean, or did when Ron said we could do this for rotary, did it just like make sense? You were like, oh, okay. That's why not? Or did it seem like a big stretch to go from using it for Boy Scouts to use it for Rotary?

SPEAKER_03 16:40

Well, uh, you know, uh I I didn't know back then that we might use it somewhere else. True. Of course. I was just focused on being able to introduce scouting to the the you know families. And I had given up going to Washington Elementary School five times. Right. And then you know, like I said, why do it again? So we did something different, and sure enough, it it took off. And we were very successful in Orange County, and then I was able to I was given an opportunity to do it at a regional level by the Boy Scouts, where I was promoted from the local Boy Scout Council to a Western region office and promote that program, that concept in the Western region of the Boy Scouts. So it took up. We knew that the Latino family wanted good things for their for their kids, right? And they do enhance, embrace the Scouting Program once they knew more what it was about. So they came in, learned the soccer, the football, and then Boy Scouts.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

So please let me let me jump in. Just like Rotary, when I joined Rotary in 1980, it they were all brick and mortar clubs.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

You know, I went to lunch at Embrea, California every Monday at noon. But today, and I've been in seven rotary clubs, today there's satellite clubs, there's e-clubs, there's passport clubs.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

And passport and yeah, X, Y, and Z and yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

And Rotary has uh changed and adapted for the current population, and that's what our program does. It reaches into whatever community you have, whatever neighborhood you want to serve, whatever curriculum you want to deliver. This program is easily adaptable to the local needs within with within the rotary world. So it it just simple, it makes sense.

Why The Beautiful Game Matters

SPEAKER_00 18:58

So I and I'm gonna, I'm gonna for my for my audio people, we're gonna show show the PowerPoint here pretty soon. So that I'm you're gonna get a a chop in your audio, guys, unless you want to imagine what the PowerPoint looks like. But you know, that's up to you. But before we do the PowerPoint, I want to ask you guys that you're you're passionate about rotary, you're passionate about Boy Scouts, and and for the people that are are hearing my voice, both of these gentlemen are wearing their best precious soccer football like crests proudly. I find it very funny that I am not in any soccer thing or rotary thing. So I'm like two strikes on me already. But what I find, what I find very you know interesting is you guys are very passionate about soccer, football, the game, the beautiful game. Let's call it that, because that is what it's called. Marcos, let's start with you. Why is soccer so important to you?

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Well, it just brings so much joy.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

It brings the You have a smile when you're talking about it, which I think is funny. I mean, you can't see that on audio, but it's like, Marcos, what is it about soccer? And all of a sudden you're like an eight-year-old kid. You're one of the kids on the on the field, you're ready to play.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

Yeah, it just brings so much joy to watch the game. It's it's an opportunity to go and spend some time with the family. I was just in Guadalajara about uh two, three weeks ago to watch the National Classical Chivas versus America. This is the Dodgers versus Yankees back in the early uh late 70s, and in to see a stadium of 60,000 people there sharing their team, and a couple of the other team, the other from the other team, they're also just having fun. That's what server is, and and it's just a wonderful game, it's an exciting game, and it brings families together, and it's in our blood.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

It's in your blood. What about you, Ron? Were you have you always been a beautiful game lover?

SPEAKER_01 21:21

No. Um my first experience was going to Barcelona and seeing the soccer stadium, football stadium there in Barcelona. But it really touched my heart when I went to Liverpool a year ago, and I met with Steve and Maria Martin. Yes. Steve is going to be an international director for Rotary. Yep. And he showed us the Beatles world in Liverpool, and then he took us to the football stadium, the soccer stadium there in Liverpool, and gave us a tour of the museum.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

And to see His passion for that. Other people on the who were there in the museum stopped and joined joined our tour, the nine of us, they joined our tour because they wanted to hear about and listen to Steve because his passion for football and soccer was so intense that I said, there is something about this game that just appeals to people. And then when I when our friend Mimi, our president of our club, started doing these programs, and I said, Well, how do I make an impact as a club president in 2026-27? I said, Well, let me try and export it. And the interest in doing this worldwide has just been so unbelievably intense. It's like, wow, all through soccer. It's just been it's just been great.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

So do either so so Marcos, what is your like diehard favorite club of all time?

unknown 23:07

All right.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

I know silly question, but I had to ask. Yes, no, thank you for asking that. And Ron, what is your what is your all-time favorite? Ronaldo is your all-time favorite, huh?

SPEAKER_01 23:21

I like I like Ronaldo because I'm Ron.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

And I went to a meeting back in Belgium, and my host introduced me to a group of scouts. They're in Belgium, says, This is my friend Ronaldo, and the kids' eyes lit up, and they said, Oh, this is Ronaldo. I had no idea, no, no clue at all as to why they were so excited, but I was okay, I'm Ronaldo. So it was it was great.

The Soccer Plus Program Blueprint

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Awesome, awesome. Well, I have to say, because I've had quite a few people ask me why I'm so much into soccer, and mine is rather a funny story. I got stuck on a business. I used to, I went to Ted one year when I was working at TED, and I didn't have at that time a thing called a VPN, so I could not watch any of my American television, and the only thing I could get was Netflix, and I came across, I stumbled across a Welsh soccer team called Wrexham. And because I am a huge history buff, because my family comes from Wales. My grandfather was a thing called a bird boy. He walked in with a bird and a lit flame on his little hat at eight years old, and he went into the mines of Wales to make sure there was no gases. So I want you guys to like figure that out. Okay. Little boy, eight years old, open flame, little bird. And if the bird died, or if the young boy blew up, then they knew that there was gas down there. Anyhow, long story short, I found myself watching it and I got into all forms of soccer La Liga and Bundesliga and La Liga MX, and of course, the women. I am a true fan of the women's game. So yeah, do I have a team? I guess Wrexham will have to be in my heart because they because they opened up the door. But I have I have friends of many countries that depending on what day, I could be wearing a hat from Brazil or I could be wearing a hat from Cuba, even, or a hat from Mexico, and the World Cup is this year. So oh my goodness. Well, let's get back to this. This is called harmony through soccer. We obviously have a family bond now, the three of us, because of soccer. Ron, are you willing to show us this uh this PowerPoint that you have of what exactly down and dirty, what this what this group is doing all over the world. And if you're listening to us on audio, go ahead and check it out on YouTube, which you know it'll be up there as well. But we very much would like you to have a chance to to see this whole PowerPoint and what Zach Ron and Marcos are doing. So as they say in the Zoom world, go ahead and take my screen away from me there, Ron. And let's see what you do. It the uh literally the floor is yours.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

All right. Let me see if uh technology is our friend.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

There you go. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

So uh really, this is soccer plus. It's peace building through soccer and football. My dog has just joined me, so if you hear some barking, that's my friend. My dog's okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Marco, Marco's had a little one on his lap too, so we're good.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

The idea is that this is a professionally led skills clinic that includes peace building with what we call here in San Diego social emotional learning and family engagement to deal with anti-bullying, gang prevention, healthy families. It's a program for youth and their parents. On the right, you can see two of our kids in Cabo San Lucas wearing their soccer jerseys that have our club's banner on it.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

And this program in your community worldwide could be for girls, like I want to do here in San Diego, or it could be Coed, or any other special population, because Rotary is inclusive and diverse. The inspiration comes from Cabo San Lucas, which used the sport as a draw to bring people, kids in. They used a local charity called SIA to deliver the character development, positive decision making curriculum. We've had about 200 students in 2004, 2005, uh 25 go through the program. It cost for us about$2,000 in American dollars for the uniforms, for the material, for the food, for the soccer balls. And the real person who's in the center of that picture is Noemi Romero Guzman, who's currently our president of our Rotary E-Club of One World. There are similar programs. Marcos developed the soccer scouting program for hundreds and thousands of families within America. He is my uh Rotary e-club of One World Soccer Commissioner. The pictures on the right show uh David Muhindo, who's in Uganda. He's the guy in the red in the picture. And he's showing pictures from his team there in Uganda at a elementary school, primary school. And the kids are holding what they are using as soccer balls. They are balls that are made out of a plastic bag wrapped with banana leagues, banana leaves. And that's and that's what they that's what they use. Oscar is in a refugee camp in Kenya, and Tim Blackburn is a uh rotary friend from Perth, Australia, and they're all wanting to bring this out to the rest of the world and help make it possible that we can touch lives through soccer. So the question is: who do we serve? Well, we serve whatever neighborhood you want, where gangs or bullying are an evident need to strengthen families. Again, Rotary is a diverse and inclusive organization. Our youth programs serve all faiths, all national analogies, all gender. Marcos, when I first rolled out this presentation, said, you know, Ron, if we go to Snapdragon Station Stadium here in San Diego, that may be a problem for folks with transportation, because some of these families have limited transportation options. So you want to choose a location that's going to be helpful for the families to actually be able to attend, be it a weekend, a week-long, or a tournament model. Choose a local partner, be it a college or professional team within your community. Then also identify community and educational or nonprofit organizations with a curriculum for what we call social emotional learning. And then find who's going to deliver that curriculum to the kids and their families. It could be, and I like this idea, Rotoract and Interact members. Or in San Diego, we have a University of San Diego with a Peace Institute.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

Right.

Rotary Focus Areas And Grants

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Partner with them. Or if it like in Cabo San Lucas, utilizing a nonprofit staff to deliver that curriculum. And again, the daily structure is determined by your local circumstances. It could be a professional soccer training through a week-long day camp, or maybe on weekends, or a series of weekends. In Kenya, we're talking about doing it as a tournament. How that shapes up, I have no idea, but we'll figure that out. The social emotional learning components could be delivered by Rotoract or Rotarians or the soccer staff or university college instructures. And it would include parent engagement sessions so that they are part of that and they understand what's going on and they can reinforce it at home. There's two models that I'm really familiar with. Here in San Diego, we use the Cassell model. That's the top logo. In San Diego, in Santa Clara, we use a program called Project Cornerstone. So whatever you use in your local community, adapt that, adopt that for your use in this program so that it is sustainable. It's reinforced by what's going on within your community there in whatever part of the world. This ties to at least four areas of focus within Rotary. Peacebuilding and conflict prevention is number one. I'm planning on doing it here in San Diego with our ladies' soccer team, The Wave. So it's empowering girls initiative, maternal and child health. I talked to my friend in Uganda. He says, really, soccer is a basic educational literacy program because there's rules, there's reading, there's understanding that. Just a note that if you are going to do a global grant, which we're planning on doing in probably 26-27, maybe 27-28, it has to include at least one area of uh areas of focus. And the program needs to be measurable and sustainable.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

That whole action to impact thing.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Exactly. Exactly. You could use youth leaders as your instructors, near peer mentors. And if you do any of these programs, please make sure you follow Rotary's youth protection and safety guidelines.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

So the kids are kids are safe. Engage Rotary's resources. Within your district, there's other Rotarians, Rotoract, Interact members who would love to participate. When I was at the president-elect learning seminar this last weekend, I mentioned to one of our Rotoract members who were Rotoract incoming presidents about this. And he says, Oh, we would love to do that. And there is a new Rotary Fellowship of World Football and Soccer fans. Yes. That's being formed. The kickoff is on March 2nd. They've got a Facebook page. And I would encourage anybody who's who loves football and soccer to join this fellowship because it just it just makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Well, and and I'll say that that that that testimonial for the fellowship that Ron just did, I did not pay him for. That fellowship is actually started by friend of the show, Steve Martin, and my partner, Celia Black, and myself. And it is in construction right now. We have not done the full paperwork. And I have to say that, Ron, because I have so many friends at RI that listen to this podcast andor this video cast. Don't yell at me yet. It is still in formation, but I, you know, Ron's Ron's pitching the fellowship. So join the fellowship. Go ahead. Gotta put those disclaimers out so I don't get in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

You bet. I I will come back to that later at the conclusion. Oh, if if I don't uh remind me.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:38

In Cabo San Lucas, we do this in Spanish and English.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

Oh, great. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

In Africa, we would do in their local languages. One of the aspects I'm thinking about including in Africa is to give every student a dictionary in their language.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

And have the donors include a personal message to the kids so that they get a personal word of encouragement from a Rotarian halfway around the world.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

So it sounds like this can really expand, and you guys can do a lot of different different things. So it started off in in 1994 as a way to get kids excited about soccer forward slash Boy Scouts has turned into a multicultural, multi-changing like organism, I guess you could say.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Exactamente.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

Okay.

Outcomes For Kids And Families

SPEAKER_01 36:36

So what do we hope to do with the kids, with the families? We hope to increase their confidence and self-esteem, help them improve their emotional regulation, develop teamwork, develop stronger family engagement, and build positive role models and safe community connections for them within their local area. We are one club of many e-clubs. We meet Saturday mornings, the first, third, and fourth week of the month at 8 a.m. and Pacific Time. We are spread over six continents. So anybody who is a former Rotarian and wants to join us, or current Rotarian and wants to learn more, our fourth meeting of the month is on peace. So we welcome you to join us. Just find me on Facebook. I'll have my personal contact information. Happy to have you join us and learn more about what we're doing. Fantastic. So why does this program matter? I designed this PowerPoint for our friends in uh San Jose. We will we plan to have an iron-on transfer or heat transfer of our logo. So you can go to your local team, like here, the earthquakes. Andy Roderman is our advocate up there in Santa Clara. So we can have a shirt personalized for them. But it's designed to be a scalable program throughout the rotary world, positioning rotary as a fundamental program to develop peace.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

So what's next? Engage with hopefully the Rotary Fellowship of World Football and Soccer fans.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Identify partnerships. We have we've gotten a district designated fund for our program, but I'm hoping to ask for a global grant. Feel free to engage with our programs in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana. I'm just now trying to pull all this together because we don't really know what how all this comes together, but I'm planning on rolling it out in Taipei at the International Convention with at the fellowship booth. So we're promoting the fellowship, and also this is an example of of what you can do for Rotary to build peace. So that's it.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Well, awesome. Well, Ron and Marcos, this is really incredible. And and like I said, if you if you listened through that PowerPoint, God bless you. That's fantastic. But go to the go to the website, go to the Action to Impact website, and you can actually see that whole PowerPoint. But it sounds exciting. Do Marcos, do you feel kind of weird that weird is kind of the wrong word, but did you have any idea back in 1994 that this could turn into such a global thing? Not just soccer, but I mean just the idea of using soccer as a vehicle to get kids off the street, to get better communication, to get better leadership. Did you ever think back in 1994 that this is what it could turn into?

SPEAKER_03 40:05

I I did not, honestly, but I am glad that we are going back to that concept. It's a proven concept, if you want to put it like that. We know it works. Ron and I have had experience doing that, and I have seen it in my my involvement with the Boy Scouts, and I'm glad that we're now applying what we learned throughout those years in Rotary. And I know that excuse me, and I know that from what we learned in the past and uh new resources, new people, that we will be able to be successful in the future.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

Yeah, so let me the Boy Scouts as a Boy Scout executive, uh one of our primary focuses upon membership, expanding our reach, touching more families.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

Huh. That sounds like rotary.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

It does sound like rotary.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

It does and and and and and it just it just makes sense. You know, we want to have more Rotarians so we increase our impact, not not for more members. You know, that's that's a measurable result, but it's so that we can touch more lives, we can deliver more polio, we can build more peace.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

More polio vaccine, just to be clear.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Yeah, we can deliver more polio vaccine. Exactly. Uh we can deliver more peace, make more peaceful communities. It's not the absence of war, it's delivering more peaceful communities throughout the world, and that's you know, that's my passion now.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

Yeah, that's it. Ron, I'm sure I will see you very soon. Marcos, what a pleasure to make your acquaintance. And I hope to see both of you guys sharing. Ron did mention the fellowship. Uh, you know, go check it out wherever you get your fellowships. And uh, gentlemen, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for joining me. This is a lot of fun. This program really seems like it could taste take something that all three of us and millions of other people love and uh turn it into something more than just what to do on a weekend, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:24

Thank you, Gwen, for spreading the love and spreading the word. It's uh it's great.

SPEAKER_00 42:29

Great.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

Thank you.

Where To Watch Read And Support

SPEAKER_00 42:31

Thank you. Well, thank you, Ron, and thank you, Marcos. And Marcos had a little bit of a hiccup with his audio, but you know, you got the point. He's such an awesome guy. It was worth a hiccup or two. And I'm sure you're noticing that you're listening to this in your car or wherever you're listening to it, wherever you get your podcast, but most importantly, you're listening to it. And let's face it, a PowerPoint presentation may not be the most stimulating in uh audio terms. So, hey, guess what you can do? You can head over to YouTube and you can go to the Action to Impact Podcast Videocast. Anyhow, you can go check it out on YouTube where the slides are all there, and you give to me and actually see what Marcos and Ron look like. And so go there, follow us on YouTube, and hey, I've also had some people say, you know what, Gwen? I love the audio file. I now really enjoy the YouTube, but I'm a reader. That's okay. I got to cover. I have a vlog. That's right, the Action Impact vlog is available as well. So all of this was made possible by amazing listeners, watchers, and readers like yourself. So if you're interested in helping the keep the shows strong, do check out uh my buzz route. There's a QR code there on the Facebook page. Check it out. Help out the show if you can. And uh tell friends about it. You know I always tell that. And last, if you have somebody that would be great on the show from anywhere in the world who is turning their actions into impact, let me know. RotarianPod at gmail.com. Okay, let's see if I got this right. I told you that a PowerPoint may not be stimulating an auto audio. Uh you can read us too. You can check us out on YouTube. Your support is always thanked.

SPEAKER_02 44:36

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 44:37

Rotarian Pod at gmail.com? I think that's it. So let's wrap this one up, shall we? Until next week. Take care of yourself and the world around you, and we'll hear you and see you and what the heck, even read about you next time on the Action to Impact shows right here. Until next week. Bye-bye, everybody. We'll talk to you soon.