Soccer Team Sends an Anti-Drug Message

Midfielder Art Temblador and his coach, Octavio Zambrano, used their heads to bounce a soccer ball back and forth Thursday before 150 cheering Sunset Lane Elementary School students.

Temblador and Zambrano, of the professional Los Angeles Salsa soccer team, carried out their maneuver to illustrate a point: You must use your head to play the game.

“You also must use your head to succeed in school and in life,” Zambrano, 36, told the students, who belong to the campus anti-drug club Just Say No.

Temblador, 19, told the students he grew up in a tough neighborhood in Corona, where he constantly fought peer pressure to use drugs and concentrated on fulfilling his goal to become a professional soccer player.

“My dream always was to become a soccer player and I did it,” Temblador said.

Zambrano said Salsa’s visit to Sunset Lane kicked off the team’s plan to make free presentations at schools and community events in an effort to persuade Orange and Los Angeles county children to reject drugs, stay in school and strive to make their dreams come true.

“We will catch their attention with the soccer ball and then talk about more serious things,” he said. “When kids see someone they look up to saying no to drugs, then it makes it easier for them to say no too.”

The students Thursday said they were impressed by the presentation. Zambrano and Temblador gave away autographed soccer balls and team pictures and demonstrated some basic soccer moves.

Shelma Jun, 11, said she learned a valuable lesson.

“They came to show us how to play soccer and gave us reasons to stay away from drugs,” she said. “If you do drugs, you won’t ever be able to follow your dreams because you’ll just mess up your mind. You need your mind to make good decisions--the right decisions.”