LOGAN SQUARE – A former football player whose career earned him a spot in the Mexican Football Hall of Fame is launching a youth camp in Logan Square to give the neighborhood a positive exit.
Omar Urea Jiménez, a journalist who played in Mexico at university and in a semi-professional team, brings his show, called Chicago Tochito Academy, to Windy City Fieldhouse in 2367 W. Logan Blvd, mid-April.
At the camp, youth will be briefed on the basics of flag football and sports journalism over the course of approximately seven weeks. Jimenez will serve as coach, recruiting his friends, a former player and a coach, to help him through Zoom.
Jimenez recruits children and women between the ages of 11 and 13. The camp costs $320 for the season. It also grants scholarships to two children and two women. Scholarships are for young people whose parents are undocumented immigrants and lost their jobs to the coronavirus pandemic. Scholarship tests are scheduled for May 5.
Chicago Tochito Academy is a dream come true for Jimenez, who has spent the last few years in the hotel industry.
Jimenez, a security guard at the Chicago Athletic Association before the pandemic hit and lost his job. Before that, I was a doorman at Big Star and Park.
While serving as a goalkeeper, Jimenez presented the Chicago Restaurant Flag Football League, based on his many years of delight in the football game and writing about the sport. The league, made up of local restaurant and bar workers, has soared in popularity; at one point, there were about 90 players.
But Jimenez said he had sought to launch a football program with youth flags and that he came up with the concept nearly 20 years ago as a way to help young people avoid gun violence in the neighborhood, but for some reason, the task never began.
“I was involved with the news, with the teenagers who lost their lives, all the disorders with the gangsters and all that,” he said.
Now, after getting a contract with Logan Square Sports Complex, Jimenez, despite everything, is launching the program, in the community where he lives, no less.
“I feel like everything I’ve done in my life has brought me to this point,” he said. “This is the time for me to share my wisdom with the younger generation so they can be informed about the sport. “
Jimenez fell in love as a young man watching his father play for The Polytechnic Cheyennes.
Jiménez continued to play as an offensive guard for the Condors of the University of Mexico from 1992 to 1996 and the offensive line and assuming for the Mexican team Horda Dorada from 2006 to 2008. While in the Condors, he decided to play in Game 3 of the Classic Bowl. he was inducted into the Mexican Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
Since 2017, Jiménez has presented a radio exhibition on Lumpen Radio, WLPN LP 105. 5 FM. He is also editor-in-chief Graficosports. com.
As a sports journalist, Jimenez said he noticed that there weren’t many Latino children in school groups in the United States and said he hoped to replace that with this program.
“The ultimate purpose of this task is for my academy students to get scholarships to play football at school in Mexico or the United States,” he said, adding, “I can’t wait to see the kids. begin his own legacy. “”
To learn more about the Chicago Tochito Academy and register, visit the camp’s website.
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, every penny we bring from Chicago neighborhoods.
Already subscribed? Click here for Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.