Abraham Muñoz of St. Charles, aka “Soccer Man,” trains near the Pico de Orizaba volcano in Veracruz, Mexico, for his various attempts at records for juggling a soccer ball for long periods of time or distances. In this photo, he attempts to keep juggling with only his dominant leg for more than an hour.
Courtesy of Abraham Muñoz
Under better financial circumstances, Abraham Muñoz might have been a professional soccer player in Mexico.
He figured out early, when pursuing his soccer dream at age 13 in his homeland, that his family did not have the money needed to finance the travel commitments of that quest.
It did not stop Muñoz, currently a resident of St. Charles, from eventually tagging himself as “Soccer Man,” the brand for his side job as a professional “freestyle” soccer player.
That means Muñoz, who turns 50 in January, performs soccer skills for brand corporations, Mexican TV shows on Univision and Televisa, commercials, video clips, grand openings, festivals and soccer games.
His incredible skill at “juggling” a soccer ball with his feet, legs, body and head (no hands, of course) has resulted in 14 world records, nine of those Guinness records for juggling for the longest period of time in some of the most extraordinary circumstances.
“I have been juggling a soccer ball almost my whole life, with more than 30 years of training for it,” said Muñoz, whose main business is Abraham’s Carpentry Inc. “I have many Guinness records and I am hoping to set maybe a couple more records before I retire from it.”
One record he is eyeing is to juggle a soccer ball while climbing the stairs at Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in Dubai, next summer.
“I feel great now and want to keep going,” Muñoz said. “The Khalifa has 167 floors and 2,909 steps and I can break one record going up and another coming down, so that’s two records on the same day.”
Such a feat would fall in line with other records he has accomplished, including juggling a soccer ball for 28 hours while competing in a juggling marathon in New York City in 2017. In that event, the rules allowed him to take a five-minute break each hour. Muñoz chose to go for 10 hours before a break, but found it difficult to recover when his body got too cold. So, he skipped the breaks for the last 18 hours of the event.
That feat came a year after he actually ran in a marathon — while juggling a soccer ball. In what he called his toughest event, he beat a previous record by nearly two hours in finishing the event in Mexico City in 5 hours, 41 minutes and 52 seconds. The wording of “officially amazing” on the Guinness certificate certainly applied in that case.
He also captured a record for traveling the longest distance of 14,576 feet (4,858 yards) while balancing a soccer ball on his head in 2009 at the York University campus track in New York City.
Illustrating balancing a soccer ball on his head at Stadium Azteca in Mexico City, Abraham “Soccer Man” Muñoz of St. Charles trains for future record-breaking attempts for balancing a ball for long periods of time.
Courtesy of Abraham Muñoz
It takes a lot of training to juggle while moving your body forward in any type of race, whether it’s a short, fast event or a marathon. Area residents may see Muñoz on occasion training in Mount St. Mary Park or Pottawatomie Park in St. Charles. At Pottawatomie, he says the stone steps going up a hill at the park simulate the effort needed to complete the Dubai challenge.
After years of working in strawberry production fields in Mexico and later in California and Portland, Muñoz moved to Chicago 27 years ago, where he turned to carpentry work. After a year in Cicero, he married his wife, Ana M. Muñoz, and then spent four years in Wheaton before moving to St. Charles, where his family has been for 20 years.
His son, 25-year-old Germán, became a civil engineer after an injury sidetracked his soccer goals. His daughters, Venezia and Iberia, are both students at Amherst College in Massachusetts.
Through it all, he figured out how to attract the attention of Guinness, though it was not easy.
“Guinness is a business, and to set up a record (attempt) you have to send them a notice of what you are wanting to do,” he explained. “The process takes very long. But after about six months, you find out whether they are interested in your attempt to break a record.”
Muñoz had to pay a fee to get his first Guinness World Record recognition, but after that, he operated through a Guinness sponsorship because of his connection with the TV stations in Mexico.
It’s been quite a ride for a man who was born and raised in the town of Zinapécuaro in the state of Michoacán, about four hours south of Mexico City, to make his way to what has been his favorite landing place in St. Charles.
In between, he’s earned the world records, showcased freestyle skills as entertainment at the World Cup events in 2002 and 2006, and helped players as a personal soccer coach.
“I have no idea how I do this,” Muñoz admitted about his soccer ball juggling skills. “It has just taken many years of practice.”
‘Frozen’ leaves warm feelings
Count us among the many who are raving about the Paramount Theatre’s production of Disney’s “Frozen,” a combination of an outstanding musical and magical special effects.
Upon entering the Aurora theater last week, we saw plenty of youngsters, mostly girls eager to see sisters Anna and Elsa take this journey powered by “true love.”
It may leave a question from others about the appropriate age needed to get through a show more than two hours long. The Paramount makes it a little easier by having an age rule that essentially sets the bar at 2 years old, but asks for common sense in who is old enough to enjoy this play.
For the most part, the kids were pretty good at this evening event. Some got a little antsy at times, and a few were sound asleep when the curtain closed around 10:30 p.m.
From our observations, we would suggest the youngest should likely be around 5 or 6, with some exceptions based on how well the parents know how their kids do in a theater setting.
Some down sides? What has happened to me quite often is the tallest guy in the Fox Valley sits right in front of me. In other words, a youngster may not see much but the back of a head in some cases.
But you can’t miss in seeing this play, regardless of whether the kids or grandkids can attend this time.
My favorite scene in the play occurred when Beth Stafford Laird as Anna, and Emily Kristen Morris as Elsa belted out “For the First Time in Forever” as the chemistry of these two shines brightly.
Of course, the show stopper of “Let it Go” earned a rousing ovation for Morris, in part because of her magnificent voice, but also for the visual background and special effects for the piece. It was a jaw-dropper, believe me.
In short, this play, running through Jan. 19, is one you don’t want to miss. For those wanting to take youngsters along for the experience, I leave this advice: Find the matinee dates on the calendar and determine how long you think the child can sit still and be engaged with what is taking place on the stage — even when Anna and Elsa are not in certain scenes.
Retail areas changing
If you don’t keep a close eye on such things, a retail strip area can change its face on you. That’s how we felt when checking out the Shops of Randall Square retail area in Geneva at Christina Lane and Randall Road.
First, there is a store called Evoke Salon & Gallery that we hadn’t noticed before. It offers hair treatments, hair styling and hair cutting, as well as makeup application chairs and other spa services.
But what mostly attracted our attention was the sign noting that a Skechers store is coming, possibly on track to open before the holidays. That store will be between the current Marshall’s store and the former Bed, Bath and Beyond space earmarked for a Nordstrom Rack site sometime in early 2025.
A store called Bullfrog Spas Factory Store is operating next to the currently empty LL Flooring site, making it a next-door neighbor to the Rally House sports team wear store. Bullfrog Spas sells hydrotherapy hot tubs and what it refers to as portable “swim spas.”
In sharing news of this activity in this Geneva retail strip, we hope you can come out of the same “who knew?” category we were in.
A fitting honor
St. Charles Episcopal Church members can say they have a true health care difference-maker among them.
They were pleased to revel in the news that church member Janet Craft, the Visiting Nurse Association Health Care past president and CEO, earned recognition from VNA through the creation of the Janet S. Craft Award of Quality.
The annual award will go to VNA staff members who show a strong commitment to emphasizing quality in the care of VNA patients.
It was a fitting honor, considering Craft spearheaded an expansion of quality health care in the region that impacted many individuals and families during her leadership tenure of 1984 to 1999.