More than 1,000 children took part in the Luksic Foundation’s Soccer Sports Schools in 2025
The program closed its season with a league that brought together more than 400 participants and combined sports, family participation and the development of socioemotional skills in communities in the Metropolitan Region and Antofagasta.
After a year of weekly work with close to a thousand children, the Luksic Foundation’s Soccer Sports Schools closed their 2025 season with a great league that brought together more than 400 children, combining sports practice with the development of skills such as empathy, coexistence and emotion management. During the day, families actively accompanied the teams, cheering from the bar with drums and banners.
Through sports workshops, the program seeks to develop children’s ability to better understand and regulate their emotions and those of others, a fundamental tool to better cope in adverse contexts and face difficult situations.
This work is especially relevant in a context where 47% of children in Chile live in neighborhoods with critical violence, such as shootings or frequent fights, and where 78.4% do not reach adequate levels of physical activity in the school context.
“Free time is a unique opportunity to offer children safe spaces, guided by trained teachers, that foster healthy bonds and the learning of life skills,” said Rosario Donoso, director of Sports at the Luksic Foundation.
The schools are currently being developed in the municipalities of Antofagasta, Renca, Independencia, Lo Prado, Estación Central, Peñalolén, La Florida, La Pintana, El Bosque and Puente Alto. The workshops have a non-competitive approach, with medals for everyone and activities designed for children to participate and feel comfortable.
Daniel Alejandro Cancino, the school’s proxy, explained that what he values most “is the spirit that is lived”. She says that her son Cristobal “has learned about companionship, managing his emotions and understanding that winning or losing is part of the game. It doesn’t matter if they come out champions: the important thing is to accompany each other, be supportive and put yourself in the other’s place.
“Luciano has been in the program for three years and the change has been very noticeable, not only in soccer, but also at home and at school. He tries harder, relates better with his classmates and has learned to control frustration. It is an experience that he himself has even recommended to his friends,” said Marco Antonio Castro, also a guardian.
The call for applications will be reopened during the summer, and classes will begin in March 2026.
