Lisa over at LDSM, Soccer Mom recently highlighted a new book that is out called ‘A Home On The Field‘ which sounds very interesting. Written by TIME Magazine reporter Paul Cuadros, it chronicles the experiences and hardships of a group of Latino students working to start up a soccer team at their school and gain acceptance on the field and off:

Migrants from Mexico and Latin America are transforming the American south. In his new book A Home on the Field, TIME reporter Paul Cuadros chronicles one town’s decision to start up a soccer team in its increasingly Hispanic public school – and how that team struggled not only to win acceptance among the Anglo establishment but also on a playing field dominated by white soccer organizations who looked at them as interlopers. The story is a deeply personal one. Cuadros himself helped to found and coached the team, taking a bunch of young street footballers from Jordan-Matthewes High School in Siler City, North Carolina, through triumphs and defeats to come in reach of a state championship.

With the fall season in full swing I have not had a chance to read this yet, but hope to soon. Has anyone else read it yet? What did you think?

One of the most difficult things facing our young league is going to be how to reach out to the Latino community. The biggest problem so far is the language barrier. We’re making up new signs to advertise Spring registration and probably will make them bi-lingual. We have a few Hispanic kids playing in our league, but I know if we figured out the right way to approach them we could have many many more. We see kids playing pickup games all the time on local fields and want to make it easier for them to participate in our league. We’re working to translate much of our website and forms, but that’ll only go so far. There are sure to be cultural barriers and more. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes and would love to read about any successes your leagues have had in this area.