Meeting--and Scoring--Goals

In the past year, Pio Pico Elementary School student Luis Magallon, 10, has diligently done his homework, read books and attended after-school English classes.

On Friday he got his reward: the opportunity to kick around a bright orange soccer ball at a one-day sports clinic led by a former Peruvian soccer star.

Luis was one of 125 students from three Santa Ana elementary schools chosen by their teachers to participate. Criteria included outstanding grades, citizenship and athletic ability, Pio Pico Principal Judith Magsaysay said.

The workshop, on the playing field at the Santa Ana Boys and Girls Club, was a collaboration between Pio Pico teacher Amalia Villaran and former Peruvian soccer star Tadeo Risco.

Risco, who runs a Los Angeles soccer camp and sponsors free clinics across the state, learned that Villaran had been honored as Peruvian-American woman of the year. Risco, a Santa Ana resident, called Villaran to ask how he could be of service to his “Peruvian sister.”

Between them, they organized Friday’s event, which featured lessons that taught the youngsters how to dribble the soccer ball with their feet, bounce it off their heads and shoot a goal. They took home soccer balls, T-shirts and water bottles donated by businesses.

“It’s very good because a lot of kids have tried to learn how to play futbol”--Spanish for soccer--”and they couldn’t,” Magallon said.

Risco, who played right wing for a Lima-based team in the late 1960s, said he hopes the clinic introduced youngsters to a wholesome after-school activity that might help to steer them away from trouble as they grow up.

“The problem is not when the kids are in school,” he said, “but when they leave.”