by Angela Kocherga/ 11 News
khou.com
Posted on September 2, 2013 at 8:36 AM
Updated
today at 11:03 AM
In Mexico where soccer dominates, students who play football are the underdogs but the Jaguares team has faced obstacles both on and off the field.?
Gunmen killed two players and injured several more as they celebrated a birthday in a notorious attack in Ciudad Juarez.?
Three years later players and parents have found a way to heal -- thanks to a team that has made a remarkable comeback
At a recent practice as players warmed up as thunder clouds loomed, two mother watched from the stands.
The women, ?Lupita Davila and Marisela Godoy Luna share a love for the team but they?re also?bound by that terrible night that changed their lives forever.
?I?ll never be able to forget the faces of so many mother?s covered in the blood of their children,? said.
Godoy recalling ?the night she rushed to the hospital after getting a frantic call from her son Rodrigo, 17.
It was January 30, 2010. Gunmen had attacked a birthday party killing 16 people and injuring a dozen more.
Many were student athletes. ?Investigators say the killers confused the double AA team with a rival gang known as the Doble AAs because of their name the Artistas Asesinos.
Godoy?s son Raul Parra was shot three times but he managed to drive of two of his teammates to the hospital including the team?s quarterback Juan Carlos Medrano.
Medrano died from his wounds during surgery.
Parra survived and is now studying nursing inspired by the caring medical staff that helped him return to the football field. He?s now the quarterback.
?It?s my family. We are all brothers.? All the mothers of my teammates are mothers to me,? said Parra.
One of those mothers is Davila whose son Rodrigo was the second player killed in the birthday party attack.? Davila and her husband still attend every game and are the team?s biggest supporters.
?It?s like having him here with us,? said Davila of her time spent with her son?s team. ?I am especially excited to see the youngest players.?
There are Jaguares teams from pee wee to the college level ?which is dubbed ?Big Black? because of the player?s black and yellow jerseys.
?Whether they win or lose, we?re here to motivate them? said Adrian Cadena, Rodrigo?s father.
He sees value in a sport that relies on teamwork.
?It builds character and discipline,? said Cadena.
Godoy, a single mother, believes her son?s team can help keep youth in school and out of trouble.
?Instead of grabbing a gun, we want them to grab a football,? said Godoy.
The players are also required to volunteer ?in the community. Recently they planted 70 trees at a center for people with psychiatric problems.
In addition to community service and school work, many players also hold down jobs so practice begins at 9pm. ?The college level players share a practice field with high school soccer teams.
They rely on hand me downs for equipment including shoulder pads and helmets from high schools across the border in El Paso.
Even with old equipment, the Juarez team managed to take on much wealthier Tec de Monterrey ?in the regional championship in May -- on mother?s day.
?We have 30 players and 29 were injured.? said Pedro Daniel Gallegos, 25, the Jaguares coach.
At halftime the team was losing 17-30 but came back to win the game.
?The satisfaction was indescribable,? said ?Gallegos who does not get paid to coach the team and instead volunteers.
The first game of the season is in two weeks in Chihuahua and the players and their working class parents are trying to raise money so the team can travel. ??
?As the defending champs prepare for what they hope will be another winning season, Parra, the quarterback tosses a pass at practice in the shadow of a memorial with two busts of his fallen teammates and friends.
?Every game we play is in their memory.?
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Source: http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/After-tragedy-Juarez-Football-team-rallies-for-a-comeback---221868031.html
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