Alfredo Morales coaches Floyd's Willow Springs soccer team, which is 9-1 in Roanoke's Hispanic Soccer League this season.

He is proud of his team's record. But more so, he is proud of the league's existence, now in its second year.

"The league is very good," he said in Spanish. "It gives Hispanics a strong incentive to come out ahead."

The Spanish-speaking soccer league, which holds games in the fall and spring at Golden Park in Vinton and Highland Park in Roanoke, gives area Hispanics a place to compete and get together.

"There are a lot of Latinos [in Southwest Virginia], but they don't have something like this," said Jose Diaz, the league's director. "The mission is to give people something that they want to enjoy for themselves."

The league is composed of 14 teams from the Roanoke Valley area, including Rocky Mount, Floyd and Roanoke. Many of the 152 players are Hondurans, El Salvadorans and Mexicans.

Families and friends bring food and their lawn chairs to Highland Park on Sundays as early as 8 in the morning and leave late in the afternoon. In Vinton, games are held for a couple of hours in the morning.

"I love soccer, being here with everybody," said Dario Gaspar, who gives tamales, chicharrones and juice drinks to soccer players between games.

Many soccer players arrive hours before their game is scheduled to watch the other teams play.

"We grew up with soccer in mind," Diaz said. "We don't play football. Soccer is our game."

Before the league existed, many Hispanic teams played in the Roanoke Valley Soccer League, also known as the open league. The league folded in the spring of 2004.

Morales said some Hispanic soccer players did not feel welcome playing there.

"The referees would give more favors to the non-Hispanic teams in the open league," said Morales, who has been coaching a Hispanic soccer team for more than a decade.

Terry McGreevey, director of the open league for 23 years, said this perception could be attributed to a decision he made to reduce the number of teams in the league because of a field shortage.

"I cut the number of teams back and I was going to stay with teams that have been here the longest," McGreevey said. "That, of course meant that the recent teams, the Hispanic teams, weren't going to play. It's unfortunate because I think it did leave that impression that I was shutting them out."

McGreevey said a pair of Hispanic players attacked referees in the final game of consecutive seasons because of bad calls.

"We had some conflicts," McGreevey said.

Overall, however, McGreevey said the Hispanic teams played with a "World Cup" mindset that made each game appear more than "rec league" matches.

"The games are very competitive," said Steve Padgett, a referee in the Hispanic league. "These guys have a lot of pride -- their uniforms are pressed -- and when they step onto the field they look a lot like soccer teams."

In addition to the Roanoke Valley league, Hispanic teams would play in North Carolina because Hispanic soccer leagues are prominent in cities such as Winston-Salem.

Victor Garcia, 27, of Roanoke remembers the long drives to North Carolina. He prefers playing in Roanoke even if he has an early morning soccer match.

"With desire, I'll wake up early to play," he said two weeks ago after his team, Tlaxiaco, won a game that began at 9 a.m.

Juan Sanchez, the head coach of the Chapulineros of Rocky Mount, said there are more Hispanics who want to play soccer, many of them friends and extended family of team members.

His team practices three times a week at a Rocky Mount middle school. He would like to practice more, but there are not enough fields in Rocky Mount for all the players.

"All of the teams want to play," he said.

Marcos Galarza, 30, who plays for the Chapulineros, said there is also not enough time to practice because of the long workdays. He works for the team's sponsor, JBL Landscaping. Three teams in the league have sponsors.

"It's for the love of the game," he said, that his team practices as much as it can. "That's why we play."

For Hispanics in Roanoke, soccer on a Sunday afternoon is as natural as football is for many Americans.

Alfredo Morales Jr. plays football for Floyd County on Friday nights. But he knows that soccer is his and his family's game. His father is the head coach of the Willow Springs.

"My father will give speeches before games that are serious," Morales said. The team plays with custom-made jerseys his father ordered and picked up from Guanajuato, Mexico.

Morales said he and about 20 of his extended family members gather around his grandma's house on Saturdays to watch soccer games on television.

Even though Willow Springs did not play until 4 p.m. on a recent Sunday, his father and two brothers showed up at Highland Park at 10 a.m. to watch other games and hang out.

"This is basically the one gathering where everybody shows up," Morales said. "Soccer brings everybody together."

For more information about playing and sponsoring the Hispanic Soccer League call Jose Diaz at 343-0801.