Ted Lasso's Cristo Fernández: Fútbol Is Life, and It's Never Too Late to Dream
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators · Jul 20, 2026 · 19:02
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators · Jul 20, 2026 · 19:02
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You know him as Dani Rojas on Ted Lasso. He's also a professional footballer with El Paso Locomotive FC, a filmmaker, and now the author of a bilingual picture book, Fútbol Is Life! / ¡Fútbol es vida!, illustrated by James Rey Sanchez.
But before all of that? He was a life insurance salesman who sold nothing for a year.
This conversation is about what happens between the dream and the arriving. About injuries that turn out to be redirections. About why "be curious, not judgmental" might be the most useful thing we can teach — and keep learning ourselves.
In this episode:
Quotes worth stealing:
"I love when someone tells me no. It might not be no here, but it might be yes somewhere else."
"Aim for the moon. If you don't hit the moon, you hit a star. And if you don't hit a star, you hit some space dust — and that's fine too."
"There's not one single way of being Mexican or being American or being Latino. We all bring something great to the table."
Links:
Episodes: Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators
