Women´s Soccer Team, a Goal unto Itself

Yesterday, the Inspira Travel staff met up with Ginger from San Telmo Productions. She and her Argentine husband Gabriel are currently making a documentary about a female futbol (soccer) team in Villa 31 and just finished months of shooting. For those not familiar with the term, a villa is essentially a shantytown, similar to the Brazilian favela and often on occupied government land . As with most major South American cities, Buenos Aires has its fair share of villas and must deal with both the stereotypes and stringent realities faced by these communities.

In other countries, where women´s team sports are popular and plentiful, the notion of a female soccer team might not be of any interest. Yet in South America, where futbol reigns supreme, there are few female teams, not to mention a complete lack of any women´s professional league. The benefits that come with practicing a team sport - among them, sportsmanship, discipline, support, physical well-being - are many, though the challenges that these young women face make such benefits hard won. While I won´t enumerate them all here (leaving that to San Telmo Productions and other journalists who have committed significant energy to this story), just making it to daily practice can sometimes seem a futile task given the responsibilities and situations that are oft encountered.

For travellers interested in learning more about the Villa 31 girls´ futbol team, please don´t hesitate to contact us. In the meantime, you can read more about these young ladies here and about the documentary filming here.