Rapids Notebook: Diego Rubio, Spanish-speaking teammates give back in hopes to expand fanbase – The Denver Post

When Diego Rubio came to Colorado in 2019, he and Nico Mezquida were the only Spanish-speaking players on the Rapids.

They wanted to do a better job of reaching out to Metro Denver’s Latin-American community, which, historically, has been a crucial element of the area’s soccer scene but has often been under represented at Rapids games.

This year, Rubio is leading an initiative to expand the fan base, by providing free tickets to Spanish-speaking kids. The goal is to inspire a few students and their families to fall in love with the game.

Last week, Rapids teammates visited Martha E. Crawford Elementary School in Aurora, where 70% of students speak Spanish as their first language.

Rubio and the players worked with the club to procure 500 tickets for students and their families for the Rocky Mountain Cup game against Real Salt Lake last Saturday.

“I think it brought in unity,” Emmy Yoshikawa, Crawford’s Dean of Students told The Post Friday. “We all have our differences, but it brought everybody together, and even the shier kids were asking, ‘What time is the game, when can we go again?’ The players brought the right message and it resonated with the kids. … It felt like it built a new community of Rapids fans within our own community here at Crawford.”

Rubio, along with teammates Mezquida, Michael Barrios, William Yarbrough, Braian Galván and Bryan Acosta, were initially involved. The hope for the future is to include new signing Gustavo Vallecilla and the Brazilian trio of Lucas Esteves, Andre Shinyashiki and Max Alves.

“The Latino community, they really love football,” Rubio said. “Sometimes, we need to get more close (with) them to show them that we do have Latino guys on the team, we are with them, we speak the same language and to tell them where we came from … We need them to come, and we want these kids to go and cheer us on.”

There’s hope to launch a full program in the future where tickets can be purchased at a reduced price. The players want to continue working with the Rapids ticket office, but are already planning a second game, with hopefully even more tickets involved for a home game in May.

“It’s positive energy for us as players and for the community, and at the end of the day, these kids are our future,” Rubio said. “If we can inspire at least one kid, that’s a win for us.”

Rapids Academy, Rapids 2 set to play in Dallas

It’s a rarity that the Rapids’ first team is on the same schedule as the Rapids Academy and new Rapids 2 team, but that will be the case this weekend.

On Saturday night, the Rapids will square off against FC Dallas at 6:30 p.m. Rapids 2 will face North Texas 3 p.m. Sunday. Lastly, throughout the weekend, Rapids Academy U-15 and U-17 teams will compete in the Generation Adidas Cup, the nation’s most prestigious elite academy tournament. The entire tournament consists of 80 academies from 10 countries.

For a full lineup of the Rapids Academy games, the 15s schedule is here, while the 17s schedule is posted here.

“It’s a huge chance for the guys to be a part of it,” Rapids 2 head coach Erik Bushey said Thursday. “It’s not often our schedules work out that way to have the Academy, Rapids 2 and the first team in the same city, but it’s an awesome opportunity. We want to do our best as a club to expose guys from all three groups to the three different levels.”

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