THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605300204
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS
LENGTH: 56 lines
``Futbol.''
That's Spanish for ``soccer.''
In Cassell's Spanish-English, English-Spanish dictionary, the word comes right before ``sociability.'' With good reason, say some members of Hampton Roads' Hispanic community.
In the Spanish-speaking countries of the western hemisphere - Mexico, Ecuador, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, to mention a few - soccer is more than just a game. It's a way of life. A family affair.
Now, two activists from the area's large but fragmented Hispanic community are trying to recreate in their adopted country the camaraderie that attends the game in their native lands.
On a recent Sunday, dozens of players and their families came together at Norfolk's Lake Taylor High School to take the first steps in forming an Hispanic soccer team. Their goal is to eventually have their own Hispanic league.
Armando Mejea, 26, of Norfolk and Alicia Bobulinski, 43, of Virginia Beach are the organizers of the soccer project, which will operate each Sunday at Lake Taylor with some midweek practices planned.
``Nobody believed it would happen, but this morning, we had 50 people playing,'' said Mejea, a native of Honduras.
``We need players and more businesses to back us,'' said Bobulinski, a native of Mexico.
Already, two Mexican restaurants have pledged to help the team get started. But more money is needed for insurance, referees and dues for membership in the soccer federation as well as uniforms.
Unlike some large American cities, Hampton Roads cities have no specific areas where Spanish-speaking people live. Instead, the estimated 58,000 immigrants are spread out and so have little occasion for interaction.
And their children tend to isolate themselves in school because of the language barrier, said Alicia Bobulinski's husband, Bob. He is director of Making a Difference Foundation, a Virginia Beach non-profit organization that mentors and tutors kids throughout Hampton Roads after school. Bob Bobulinski hopes to include the teaching of English as a second language in his tutoring sessions.
``We're involved because Hispanic kids need heroes,'' Bob Bobulinski said. ``It's important to see the Spanish community coming together.''
Also on hand at the recent gathering to lend support was Angel Morales, president of Interes Hispano, an organization that aims to promote positive interaction among Hispanics and between them and others. Morales is owner and producer of 88.1 FM, a bilingual radio station, and was the first chairman of the Virginia Beach Human Rights Commission.
No dictionary was needed Sunday to translate the smiles and enthusiasm of the players and their families as young men took to the field to play the game they grew up with in their native lands.
``Si!'' MEMO: For more information, call Bobulinski at 474-0392. by CNB