Once Hernandez returned from Chicago, she utilized her learning to make her vision for the soccer field a reality. She worked with the City of Pahokee to create an agreement for the field and asked teachers and coaches to volunteer their services to oversee the program. She recruited eight coaches and two referees, and when registration opened for the very first youth soccer club, “Pahokee SC,” 66 kids signed up immediately. What is even more remarkable is Hernandez started the club during the pandemic with the first soccer clinics commencing in March 2020.
Healthier Glades has been behind Hernandez every step of the way, providing hand sanitizers, masks and wellness kits to the soccer families at the start, and recently purchasing soccer balls and cones for the field. Recognizing Hernandez’s leadership and ability to create belonging among the Glades’ Hispanic community, Annie Ifill, Healthier Glades current program director, appointed her to chair the initiative’s Hispanic Wellness Committee.
Today, soccer has become the uniting force for Hispanic families in the Glades and a central force for promoting health and wellness with support from Healthier Glades and many other community partners. Providing food for families in need, sponsoring street clean ups and school backpack drives, and inviting the Red Cross and fire department to provide wellness trainings are just some of the initiatives that have grown out of the soccer club. Hernandez and her colleagues have also expanded their scope of support for students on the teams by offering help with homework and guest speakers on a variety of health and wellness topics when the kids are off the field, reaching children from 5-14 years old.
