A total of 212 players on 36 teams hit the soccer field in Chicago's Riis Park on Sunday, Aug. 26, for the Copa HardieBacker 2007, sponsored by James Hardie and The Home Depot. The atmosphere was as animated as any soccer tournament with passionate cheering and competitive teams playing hard—but this event was different.
The teams consisted, not of professional players or soccer legends, but of some of the best Hispanic pro contractors in the Chicago area. On this Sunday, they traded their coveralls and tool belts for jerseys and cleats.
After a series of round-robin games, developer Cano Properties clinched the precious trophy. Cano, whose team had the fastest legs in town, won the crowning match, besting drywall specialists Molina Construction.
On the field, we spotted César Santoy, executive director of the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA), whose dribbling and ball control helped the HACIA team’s offense. “Futbol is an excellent way to organize the Hispanic contractor community,” says Santoy. “The Copa HardieBacker event gave our team the opportunity to compete against contractors we have worked with in the past, as well as those we would like to get to know better in the near future.”
The event also went beyond winning a soccer cup. With special events for the kids and booths set up for various organizations, including HACIA, V&V Supremo Foods and Makita Tools, the community was the real winner. Pro soccer player, Chicago Fire defender Jim Curtin, worked the sidelines, signing autographs for fans.
“These events benefit all of us,” says Celso Escorza of Escorza Tile. “Our crews appreciate the opportunity to have some fun with their families, meet other contractors and get to know the people they shop with better.”
Event coordinators, Julie Lehto, Hispanic account representative for James Hardie and Francisco Carrillo, The Home Depot’s Midwest manager of emerging markets, concur that the real objective was to make contractors feel comfortable and provide their respective companies a chance to connect with the people they do business with on a daily basis. “These types of events help us see each other under a different light,” Carrillo says. “It is also a great networking event for them [contractors]. We foster this friendship, and I know that if they grow, we grow.”
The Home Depot Emerging Markets team sponsors many regional events around the country, similar to The Copa HardieBacker 2007, to get involved in local Hispanic communities. “We establish a link with the Hispanic pro based on what they need,” says Alex Zepeda, senior manager of emerging markets for The Home Depot. “We reach them where they work, live and play.”