A group of Latina soccer players is trying to overcome the economic and cultural battles that have long kept them on the soccer sidelines. More from columnist BillPlaschke:
Downtown Los Angeles Soccer Club coach Mick Muhlfriedel talks with players during practice at Liechty Middle School. His mission is to empower young Latinas through soccer, helping them break the cultural barriers that often keep them from realizing their athletic dreams. April Flores streaks downfield, smoothly passes the ball to Nayelli Barahona, who kicks it over to Michelle Bracamonte, who boots a 20-yard laser past a diving goalkeeper.
Downtown, as it’s commonly known, is fueled by 175 girls trying to crack the grass ceiling. They are attempting to alter the current women’s soccer portrait of rich and white. They’re hoping to eventually change the face of a World Cup champion U.S. women’s national soccer team whose 23-person roster was missing a key piece in its celebration of diversity.
“No, they don’t,’’ says Barahona, Downtown’s 15-year-old striker. “That’s why … I like watching them and everything, but I still say my idol is Lionel Messi.” In his 10th season with the club, which also has about 450 boys, the retired TV and movie composer has built a steady girls program by convincing neighborhood parents of the athletic worth of their child, and then using donations to pay for most of their uniforms and tournament fees. Some of the girls contribute $25 a month. Most pay nothing.“Downtown! … L.A.!” they scream together before every game, resounding in pride over a journey that is taking them places.
In the last two years, Downtown’s top team of 15- and 16-year-olds has won three of their eight major tournaments and played in the finals three other times. This fall they will compete in the prestigious Premier division of the Coast Soccer League, and then compete in the celebrated California Regional League.
They’re shorter than everyone else. They’re darker than almost everyone else. They not only look different, but, in some places, they are treated different, the occasional object of racial taunts hurled from the sidelines. It’s never easy for the girls and their 65-year-old father figure. The difficulties begin before practice, when Muhlfriedel climbs into his sports car and leaves his Westside home for the seven-mile drive to the field. It sometimes takes him nearly three hours, because he drives all over Los Angeles to pick up five or six of his players.
“In our culture, this is a sport loved by the male community, your best player is your son. If you’re a woman, you stay at home, you do the chores, you wash the dishes,” says Jimena Torres, former club player and one of the program’s coaches. “We try to get the girls out here and give them wings.” “Girls would just be walking past and want to be part of this,” Muhlfriedel remembers. “They had to go through so much to play, yet they came from everywhere to be out there. I fell in love with their commitment.”
Their parents now crowd the sideline for games. Like their children, they hear the racist remarks and sometimes feel the stares. But they celebrate the empowerment and have seized the opportunity.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Los Angeles will feel the heat as gloom evaporatesTemperatures will jump from below normal to 5 to 10 degrees above normal next week across Los Angeles, according to the National Weather Service.
Leer más »
Women's soccer World Cup champ's hotel room burglarized in Los Angeles
Leer más »
6 great pizza places in Los AngelesCritic Bill Addison barrels through some of L.A.'s most noteworthy pizza places and names his favorites, including Pizzana, Pizzeria Mozza and four more.
Leer más »
T.I.'s Lil Trap House Pop-up Hits L.A.T.I. brings his Trap Museum from Atlanta to Los Angeles with Lil Trap House pop-up.
Leer más »