North Lake Tahoe Bonanza: It doesn't take long to see Benjamin Machuca smile. Just mention the word soccer and his eyes sparkle, the weight lifting from the black cane he uses to help himself walk.

 

Machuca said that he's played soccer since before he can even remember, starting as a young child in his hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico. But he hasn't played in two years, since falling from scaffolding while moving rocks on a project at the Cal Neva. Machuca suffered a dislocated hip and two damaged discs in his back.

"I loved playing soccer with my kids," Machuca said. "I have pictures of when we used to play. I feel very bad about not doing anything anymore." But although the injury has kept him from the playing field, it hasn't kept him from the sidelines. Last spring, Incline Athletic Organization organizers Chris Laramore and Wayne McClelland asked him a to coach a team.

"Ben would always come to every practice and game, bring his whole family and give the kids lots of encouragement from the side," said Laramore, Incline resident and soccer coach. "He'd always come early and never miss a game. All of the sudden, more Latino families started to coming to the games as well. He'd see skills in the kids that I didn't see and we decided to ask him if he'd like to help coach."

Machuca said yes and began assisting Hector Andrade with the Winter Wolves soccer team last spring.

"Hector is the legs," he said. "I do everything with the papers and putting it all together. I tell all the kids to come into the sports and don't be into the streets doing other things."

Machuca has not only been a role model for the 16 soccer players (12 Latinos) that he coaches, but also for his five children; Linda, 16; Benjamin Jr., 13; Abel, 12; Saul, 8; and Adriana, 5.

"I learned soccer from my dad and my uncle," Abel Machuca said. "I like to play because it's fun and I never get tired." When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, Abel's answer was quick and definite.

"I want to be a soccer player and a painter, like my dad," he said. Abel also said he has one wish - that his dad wouldn't be hurt anymore.

"The atmosphere of soccer almost seems like a pain killer for Benjamin," Laramore said at an afternoon soccer practice while Benjamin explained a drill to the players on the field.

"I was under very, very bad stress before I started coming out to the fields," Machuca said.

Benjamin, 34, spent 10 years in Los Angeles after immigrating from Mexico 17 years ago. A house painter by trade, he heard word from his cousins, who had worked with Cal Neva owner Chuck Bluth in Los Angeles, that Bluth needed workers in Incline Village. Machuca came to work for Bluth at the Cal Neva and was given the opportunity to stay on as the head painter.

"It's better here than in L.A.," he said. "There's less gangs and more sports for the kids and the people."

Better opportunities for himself and for his children is what brought Machuca to the United States.

"I push my kids to speak both English and Spanish," he said. "So they can have more opportunities in this country in jobs and in life."

After working In Incline for one year, Machuca moved his family to the area and started a permanent residence. A few years later, one of his sisters and brother moved to Kings Beach.

Growing up in Mexico, Machuca said that soccer was a big part of him family life. In the U.S., he said he thinks the tradition is the same for the Latino people. He said he believes communication between families in the community helps break down the cultural barriers between Latinos and Caucasians.

"When people and parents come into the sports they communicate more," he said. If they don't come into the sports, they don't know each other."

Editor's note: This is the fifth in an occasional series, The Other Side of Incline, in which we profile citizens who, while they don't often find themselves in the news, are a vital part of the fabric of our community.

 

Wendy Lautner
Bonanza sports editor