Camp helps boost Latina girls' soccer skills

CHAPEL HILL -- Monica Herrera and a dozen other Hispanic girls spent their summer playing soccer on a Chapel Hill field while their dads and brothers watched.

The girls learned to control and pass the ball and even perform some goalkeeping moves. With every kick and header, the girls challenged a cultural perception among Hispanics that soccer is for boys.

Every practice concluded with a rowdy cheer: "Que jueguen las ninas!" Those words, "Let the girls play!" came to Elicia Hyde-DeRuyscher one day after she walked by Hispanic men playing soccer in Chapel Hill. Nearby, their sons kicked around balls, like their fathers. But the women and the girls sat.

It troubled Elicia, 15, who is white and has been playing on soccer teams since she was 6. She felt that the Latinas were missing out.

"Not only is it just fun, you can go out on the field and relieve stress. You can go out on a field and interact with a team. And you can build relationships with teammates that last forever," she said.

She formed a plan: Offer free soccer clinics just after the school year ends. Help the girls sign up for local recreational soccer in the fall. Encourage the girls to bring their friends the following summer.

The rising sophomore at East Chapel Hill High School continued the program this summer. The girls were thrilled when Elicia had former U.S. national team member Tracy Ducar teach the girls some moves.

Elicia advertised her program at thrift shops, social services offices and Hispanic grocers with simple posters that read "Que jueguen las ninas" with the dates, times and her phone number.

The activities, games and opportunity to hang out with other Spanish-speaking girls drew Monica, 9, again this year.

Now she is thinking about signing up for her first recreational soccer team this fall.

"I like playing soccer," she said. "That you run and you are active. And that sometimes you can get in teams, and then you make new friends."

Valerie Bautista, 11, spent a little less time baby-sitting her nieces and nephews to make it to the clinics.

"I have a lot of friends, but they're not Mexican except one," she said.

To her delight, that wasn't the case with this group.

"Some people are from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Texas. It's really fun because I was born in North Carolina, but my brothers and sisters were born in Texas and Mexico," she said.

Ana Ipina, 10, and her sister, Viviana Arreguin, 9, liked scrimmaging on opposite teams and sometimes playing together.

"I feel proud of myself," said Ana, who dreams of being a famous soccer player when she grows up. "And I feel like I really know how to play soccer."

Paul Cuadros wrote "A Home on the Field" about the struggles of creating an all-Hispanic boys soccer team at Jordan-Matthews High School in Siler City. Cuadros' team became the first Hispanic high school team to win a North Carolina state title.

He later started a girls team at the high school. He said some Hispanic girls have cultural challenges to overcome in order to play soccer or any sport.

"There's a thinking that they shouldn't be doing that. That's not ladylike or girl-like," he said.

Dream of the big lights

Now that his girls team is six years old, he has seen more acceptance in the community. He's also seeing Hispanic girls joining with a higher skill level, which suggests to him that more girls are playing at an earlier age.

"The girls, they want to play on the big field, under the big lights. It's a real draw for them. It is for the boys, too. It's the whole idea of playing in front of their community," he said.