Guatemalan women use soccer to kick aside constraints in the U.S.
Playing soccer in the United States is a rejection of traditions back home -- where soccer is too macho a game for women. But playing the sport in the United States makes some undocumented Guatemalan women feel like real Americans, writes Molly Hennessy-Fiske in this Los Angeles Times report.
" 'Be like the men -- aggressive,' Elda called out. During the week, the sisters spend their days like scores of other illegal immigrant women in Los Angeles: Wedged behind Singer sewing machines, they feed pants and shirts under the needle until their shoulders grow stiff.
"But on the weekends they play a game that was off-limits to them in Guatemala. It is on the soccer fields that the Lopez sisters feel like American women....
"On any given weekend, scores of immigrants line the hills of the bowl-shaped field where Celestina and her sisters play in MacArthur Park. Vendors with strollers full of Gatorade and Cheetos compete for territory closest to the field, bickering in Spanish. Men stand in clusters on the sidelines, following the action. Mothers dressed in heels and glitter-dusted jeans watch with babies hoisted on their hips. Boys and girls roam nearby, passing soccer balls."
Read on here, where you can watch a multimedia slide show of the women's games.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: Celestina Lopez, left, battles for the ball during a game at MacArthur Park. She says playing soccer has made her feel less stress, and she's encouraging her daughter, Erica Hernandez, 8, to play. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
