World champion Diana Flores criticizes the pay hole within the sport

Flores’ soccer jersey from the Tremendous Bowl advert is now on show within the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame The first piece of memorabilia From a flag soccer participant.

Flores strikes with confidence on tv and on the sphere. However she acknowledges her humble beginnings within the sport when she did not all the time have help as a girl.

“I began taking part in soccer after I was 8 years outdated in Mexico Metropolis. At the moment, the game wasn’t very talked-about. We didn’t have numerous choices to follow,” she stated. “It was seen as a sport just for males.”

Nevertheless, Flores says her father fostered her love of soccer — he additionally performed for Mexico Metropolis at the highschool and faculty ranges.

Each father and daughter have fashioned a bond as Pittsburgh Steelers followers. Flores says she has studied the actions of different quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

However outdoors of her childhood residence, gender disparity formed her early experiences as a soccer athlete.

Flores remembers that the soccer membership the place she began taking part in had a big area with pure grass and lighting. However she was not allowed to play on this area, as a result of it was reserved for the lads’s crew.

As a substitute, I practiced and performed on a again courtroom.

“It was actually a dust area stuffed with rocks and typically trash,” she stated. “On daily basis my coach would ask us to convey a trash bag, so we might simply spend the primary quarter-hour cleansing the sphere.”

Flores retains coming again to this reminiscence, she stated, as a result of it exhibits how far girls have come within the sport.

On the age of 14, Flores crossed to the USA to play soccer in Boston. Then I continued to play largely with older gamers, each ladies and men. On the age of sixteen, she was known as as much as the Mexican nationwide crew.

Since then, Flores has gained bronze, silver and gold medals with Mexico.

Now, she and her crew have their eyes on 2028, when soccer will accomplish that Debut as an Olympic event.

Flores firmly believes that if feminine athletes got fairer alternatives, they’d not solely convey extra followers to the stadiums, however they’d additionally win extra championships.

Within the meantime, she needs to encourage girls to succeed in these athletic targets.

“Maintain doing it for your self, on your desires, and for many who come after you,” she stated. “By no means cease preventing, keep on this path and construct a legacy.”