My name is Becca Ramírez and I am a 2nd generation American with a strong passion for soccer. I’ve played futból from an early age as my family holds a deep tradition in the sport. If you don’t play futból well in my family, you can basically count on being forgotten. My brother Kevin never really found an interest in it and now just keeps his distance from what he calls his “crazy Spanish side” altogether. I think this started with futból and just kept going. But anyway, both my mom and my dad grew up in the states and met in college, fell in love, and raised two kids who have some really strong Spanglish. My Mom’s family is from Madrid and my Dad’s family is Seville so there is not an ounce of white in me. My grandparents both raised my parents here and, therefore achieved the American Dream, which of course crumbled with their children. The first part of my life was pretty happy from what I remember, but Kevin being 5 years older, remembers otherwise. My parents separated when I was in 7th grade and tarnished their happily every after about 3 months later. Kevin and I moved in with my mom and this is when I made the transition from playing futból to soccer. Futból was the first thing I remember being good at. I genuinely enjoyed it and it was one of the few things I could bond with my family over. Family always came before futból, but when my parents put their needs before my family it was clear that family did not come before passion. Soccer welcomed me with open arms and gave me a family that was not broken. I put all my energy into soccer and it became my life. Amateur passion turned into a professional obsession and I haven’t looked back since. Although, I really should. I see my dad every few weeks and he does his best to come to all my games. My mom is for sure a crazy soccer mom with Spanish crazy fully wrapped in. Kevin, on the other hand, could not care less. My parents have put a lot of energy into me and not a lot into Kevin. He barely graduated high school, and dropped out of community college after his 3rd semester. He spends most of his days smoking in our basement, but with him home more we’ve gotten a lot closer. But he still doesn’t come to my games. He was the first person in my family I told that I was bi, but he was super stoned so not sure if he actually remembers. I’ve always kind of known I was bi, so it was never really a big deal. I’m super open with my friends about it but I haven’t told my parents. But I’ll do it eventually. 

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Since my family is a little spacy, I consider my soccer team to know me better than they do. We have all known each other since elementary school and have played together since middle school. We all made the transition to indoor soccer around the same time too which really helps. I think my teammates see me to be the weird corky one. Don’t get me wrong my sense of humor is whack; I find the dumbest shit funny and can tell you almost anything you need to know about the Lord of the Rings. But, there are very few teammates who see me beyond my humor. A lot of the girls do not get along, and I think a big symptom of my parent’s divorce was not being able to handle any sort of conflict or tension. Basically, I live in fear that the team will fall a part and end like my family did so I do my best to ease tensions between the other girls. I tend to make every heated moment exceedingly awkward so they forget about it. The easiest way to do it is to make them laugh. In terms of my relationships with the other girls, the two who I think know me beyond my strange humor is #25 and #11. These girls are stupid smart and I are super progressive like me so I think its pretty cool that we can jump around from soccer practices talking about politics, sports, music, etc. I’d say these girls are the my besties and they always include me in like everything. I think the three girls I have the most trouble relating to are #8, #7, and #14. I was never really into the whole crazy boy phase so I have a hard time starting conversations with them, I usually just awkwardly join them. Every now and again I’ll say something that kinda creeps them out, but we are a team so by the end of the day we’re totally cool. #2 just seems like she is scared of everything and as much as I want her to calm down, she is young so its fun to creep her out every now and again, but she knows I’m kidding. I don’t really know #46 that well yet, but I have mad respect for her skills. I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little threatened by her, but she’s great for our team. #00 doesn’t really talk much, and I don’t think she has much to say. I try to make her laugh sometimes but I think I make her a little uncomfortable. Whatever, I know that she has my back and I have hers. At the end of the day these girls are more than my teammates they are my sisters. I would much rather be playing soccer with these girls every afternoon then do anything else. They give me the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself and I feel so proud that these ladies let me do it with them every day.