<
https://www.positive.news/world/the-blind-football-team-opening-up-the-world-for-women-in-mexico/>
"Swaying her white cane from side to side, Pau, 31, steps off a bus into the
noise of Mexico City. Cars surge past, horns blare and rain begins to fall, but
the visually impaired mother keeps moving, her six-year-old son Noel holding
tightly to her hand.
Several times a week, she makes the two-hour journey across one of the world’s
largest cities to train with Chilangas FC, a women’s blind football team that
she says has changed her life.
For Pau and her teammates, the commute is more than worth it. Chilangas FC, one
of only six women’s blind football teams in Mexico, has become a source of
friendship, confidence and independence in a country where many visually
impaired women still face pressure to remain at home under the care of
relatives.
“Football has changed how I see myself as a blind woman,” Pau says. “Bringing
my son with me and knowing I’m setting an example for him fills my heart. I’m
showing him that there are no limits.”
Founded in 2022 by coach Wendy del Río, Chilangas FC was created to expand
opportunities for visually impaired women in a sport that has long been
dominated by men. As blind football has grown in Mexico through men’s leagues,
tournaments and national team programmes, women have begun pushing for spaces
of their own.
“When we started, there were very few opportunities for blind women,” says del
Río. “Many arrived thinking football wasn’t for them because that’s what they
had been told their whole lives.”
Training gave the players something many had been missing beyond sport: regular
contact with other visually impaired women, and a place where the daily
business of navigating the city, work, family and other people’s assumptions
did not need to be explained.
“They’ve become friends, teammates and role models,” del Río says. “Watching
their confidence grow has been one of the most rewarding parts of this
project.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
