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Canales Daily: WPS Makes Dream Real
Andrea Canales watched girls kick around a soccer ball this weekend, but not for the inaugural games of Women's Professional Soccer. However, she believes there's a vital connection.
Apr 1, 2009 1:23:42 PM
By Andrea Canales
As two members of the U.S. men's national team, Jose Francisco Torres and Tim Howard, along with coaches Bob Bradley and Mike Sorber, led out a few training drills in a Futbal Forever workshop in El Salvador, I watched the eager faces of young kids participating in the beautiful game.
That's where it all begins. A child and a ball and the dream to play.
Another reporter asked my thoughts on the event. "It's nice," I responded. "They all seem excited. I'm also glad to see girls out there participating. I don't always see that in Hispanic countries."
The soccer writer looked around again. "There are girls playing? I hadn't even noticed."
That was perhaps the greatest inadvertent compliment he could have paid - because indeed, the girls didn't stand out at all. Dressed in the T-shirts representing the charity, they ran around, taking part in the training exercises with about the same or at times better results than their male counterparts. At that age (around eight), many of the girls were taller than the boys and the eventual strength issues between the genders did not seem to be a factor at all.
It probably shouldn't have surprised me that much that El Salvador's program included females. After all, the event was attended by Ana Vilma Albanez de Escobar, the country's current female vice-president, so clearly El Salvador believes in granting women opportunities. Still, in travels to many Spanish-speaking countries around the world, I've often seen women only watching soccer games.
Since I was born and raised in the U.S., I'm not sure how much of what puts women on the sidelines in Latino countries is cultural.
In El Salvador, at least, the little pony-tailed girls taking shots on Tim Howard were evidence that there is change afoot in any widespread belief that women shouldn't play.
After all, why shouldn't a female in that country be as inspired by Jorge Alberto González Barillas, the great 'El Magico', as any boy?Why wouldn't she dream of success in the sport and practice fervently to improve her talent?
Well, for one thing, it's not as if she could also dream of growing up to travel abroad and play in Spain's top league.
Early on in life, kids regularly play together and learn the game together.
"My sister was a very good soccer player - still is," 2002 World Cup star John O'Brien told me when describing his very first club team in his childhood. She was apparently the star of their team, while his first passing attempts often consisted of getting the ball to her feet.
The skills of female players aren't appreciated much when people value more the athleticism that men bring to soccer. The speed of matches and the nuances of the women's game have different, unique aspects.
At the media event welcoming Marta to Los Angeles, the Brazilian player was asked repeatedly about how much playing with boys had developed her game.
"I played with boys because I loved to play, and they were playing," Marta replied. She seemed slightly irritated at the implication behind the question, which was that those boys were responsible for how good of a player she was. Why, her frustrated features seemed to express, couldn't she get credit for her own skill?
The smile returned to her face in a blink, however, as she stepped into the sunshine of the center circle in the stadium where her Women's Professional Soccer team plays. Here she could leave all the pesky perception issues aside and just do what she does best. When the Los Angeles Sol claimed the first victory in the new season of league action, Marta's smile was that of a person living a dream.
That's the promise of the WPS - the target it provides for women players around the world, be they in Brazil, El Salvador, the U.S - almost anywhere. It tells little girls that there's a reason to keep kicking.
Andrea Canales is Chief Editor of Goal.com North America
As two members of the U.S. men's national team, Jose Francisco Torres and Tim Howard, along with coaches Bob Bradley and Mike Sorber, led out a few training drills in a Futbal Forever workshop in El Salvador, I watched the eager faces of young kids participating in the beautiful game.
That's where it all begins. A child and a ball and the dream to play.
Another reporter asked my thoughts on the event. "It's nice," I responded. "They all seem excited. I'm also glad to see girls out there participating. I don't always see that in Hispanic countries."
The soccer writer looked around again. "There are girls playing? I hadn't even noticed."
That was perhaps the greatest inadvertent compliment he could have paid - because indeed, the girls didn't stand out at all. Dressed in the T-shirts representing the charity, they ran around, taking part in the training exercises with about the same or at times better results than their male counterparts. At that age (around eight), many of the girls were taller than the boys and the eventual strength issues between the genders did not seem to be a factor at all.
It probably shouldn't have surprised me that much that El Salvador's program included females. After all, the event was attended by Ana Vilma Albanez de Escobar, the country's current female vice-president, so clearly El Salvador believes in granting women opportunities. Still, in travels to many Spanish-speaking countries around the world, I've often seen women only watching soccer games.
Since I was born and raised in the U.S., I'm not sure how much of what puts women on the sidelines in Latino countries is cultural.
In El Salvador, at least, the little pony-tailed girls taking shots on Tim Howard were evidence that there is change afoot in any widespread belief that women shouldn't play.
After all, why shouldn't a female in that country be as inspired by Jorge Alberto González Barillas, the great 'El Magico', as any boy?Why wouldn't she dream of success in the sport and practice fervently to improve her talent?
Well, for one thing, it's not as if she could also dream of growing up to travel abroad and play in Spain's top league.
Early on in life, kids regularly play together and learn the game together.
"My sister was a very good soccer player - still is," 2002 World Cup star John O'Brien told me when describing his very first club team in his childhood. She was apparently the star of their team, while his first passing attempts often consisted of getting the ball to her feet.
The skills of female players aren't appreciated much when people value more the athleticism that men bring to soccer. The speed of matches and the nuances of the women's game have different, unique aspects.
At the media event welcoming Marta to Los Angeles, the Brazilian player was asked repeatedly about how much playing with boys had developed her game.
"I played with boys because I loved to play, and they were playing," Marta replied. She seemed slightly irritated at the implication behind the question, which was that those boys were responsible for how good of a player she was. Why, her frustrated features seemed to express, couldn't she get credit for her own skill?
The smile returned to her face in a blink, however, as she stepped into the sunshine of the center circle in the stadium where her Women's Professional Soccer team plays. Here she could leave all the pesky perception issues aside and just do what she does best. When the Los Angeles Sol claimed the first victory in the new season of league action, Marta's smile was that of a person living a dream.
That's the promise of the WPS - the target it provides for women players around the world, be they in Brazil, El Salvador, the U.S - almost anywhere. It tells little girls that there's a reason to keep kicking.
Andrea Canales is Chief Editor of Goal.com North America
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