‘Parentemonials’: Juan
“We are not seeing Elias being a, shy guy anymore …” is always a desired outcome of children that play on our Wolves Athletic Club teams, or participate in Free to Play after school programming.
Elias happens to have gone through both from Free to Play into a Wolves soccer team, and Juan’s Parentemonial speaks volumes to the benefits they have experienced.
Thank you so much for sharing Juan 🤝 Let’s go Gunners ⚽️
Juan’s Parentemonial Transcript
I do enjoy winters. I don't mind the cold. I don't mind the snow. What bothers me most is the long nights.
Hi there. My name is Juan Santamaria. I’m Elias’ dad. We've been in Canada for three years now, originally from Mexico.
I love soccer. It's my favourite sport. But Elias was never fully into it. He was always kind of following his own path. He was already part of the after-school program when the opportunity came up to join a soccer team. He liked the idea, got into it, and now he's loving it.
For kids, it's very important to have the opportunity to be part of a sports team. It teaches them so much—responsibility, teamwork, and learning from different perspectives.
They have a fantastic coach who really focuses on the development of the kids—not just in sports, but also personally. Elias looks up to Coach Jimmy. He respects and admires him. We’re really happy with how he’s been working with the kids and how he manages the team.
Being on the team has taught Elias that he can’t do everything on his own. He’s learning to do his part the best he can, and to understand that the result will come through team effort.
He’s also learning a lot about sports. I teach him about soccer, basketball, and football. He knows the basics of each, but getting to actually participate in a tournament is completely different from just watching games on TV.
We're not seeing Elias as that shy guy anymore. He’s not hiding behind TV shows, YouTube videos, or computer games. Now he tries new things and spends more time with the people around him.
