Should Women Coach Women?
By Hilary Braysmith

I wanted to investigate the state of women's soccer in the Hispanic community of Southern California. I was curious about what impact, if any,the WWC '99 had had on a population devoted to the men's game. While I knew I would encounter the Latino cultural bias against girls playing soccer (and I did), I hoped to find a crack in the macho resolve after the success of the US Team. I wanted to find out if an incipient interest in women's soccer or perhaps even girls' programs was developing. Instead, I discovered a more complicated and optimistic reality than I expected.

First, I would like to share what I learned about Spanish language media and fans and, in part II, what I found out about Latinas actually playing the game.

The Hispanic community of Southern California has followed women's matches for years. LA's La Opinion newspaper, probably the most powerful Spanish language publication in the US, is light years ahead of its mainstream English language counter parts in covering women's soccer. I spoke with Monica Lozano, associate publisher. Lozano served on the WWC Advisory Board because her paper provides some of the best coverage of international soccer in the United States and could help involve the Hispanic community in the Cup. I asked Ms. Lozano what steps her paper took to encourage interest in the women's event. Her answers did not fit my assumptions about the position of women's soccer in the Latin community. Lozano explained that La Opinion handled the Women's World Cup like any other significant soccer event, assigning reporters who had been covering women's soccer for years and who knew the coaches and the players. When Rigoberto Cervantez reported on the WWC of 1991, he posted the bold, front page headline "US World Cup Champions" with a huge color picture and write-up. Cervantez has always treated women's soccer the same as men's, discussing technical aspects and providing fans with his analytical insights. In fact, when a reporter in a recent interview asked Julie Foudy how all the new media attention felt, Foudy pointed out that only some of the media attention was new because La Opinion had been covering the team for 8 years. Cervantez admits that, culturally, there is still a bias in favor of men's soccer and Spanish radio ignored the '99 Cup until President Clinton attended the Germany-US game and visited with the team afterward. "That" said Cervantez "got everyone's attention! And then the most popular Spanish language radio sports programs began covering women's soccer." Even though some radio personalities advised their female audience to stay in the kitchen, few took their advice. Both Cervantez and I observed a noticeable Latin representation at the WWC final and at the Anaheim Pond during the Toys 'R Us victory tour. In addition to Latinas, I saw Latino teen-aged boys buying posters of Mia, Brandi, et. al. When Monica Lozano overheard her 12 year old son tell a soccer buddy "I get to be Julie Foudy" and the other boy pick a different WNT member to imitate, we both knew the women's game hadn't just arrived-it had moved in.