A Mayan women鈥檚 softball team is batting away barriers in Mexico
FIELD OF DREAMS: Alejandra Tuz May, captain of Las Diablillas, throws a ball to a batter during a friendly match against Las Pi帽eras in Chanch茅n Primero, Mexico.
Oscar Espinosa
Hondzonot, Mexico
Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, 18 women and girls from this remote jungle community meet to train on the village ball field 鈥� a place where they were once unwelcome. The players spend their two hours of softball practice in constant laughter as they take a break from their traditional Mayan roles as housewives, mothers, and daughters and do something just for themselves.
One of the team鈥檚 veterans, Gloria Carolina Be Segura, runs a small grocery store. On training days, she wakes up extra early to get her housework done. 鈥淢y husband or my son takes care of the store so that I can go play,鈥� she explains, satisfied with her small personal victory. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my time, when I de-stress and have fun with my friends.鈥�
The women have been playing since 2018, when Fabiola May Chulim and a few neighbors began meeting near their homes to practice something similar to baseball, using sticks, tennis balls, and their own rules. The game aroused unease in their village, Hondzonot.
Why We Wrote This
The women on the team Las Diablillas spend their two hours of softball practice every week in constant laughter. The game allows them to take a break from their traditional Mayan roles as housewives, mothers, and daughters and do something just for themselves.
鈥淲omen could not be distracted with other things; they had to stay at home,鈥� Ms. May Chulim says. 鈥淥ur husbands and fathers ... told us that we were wasting our time.鈥�
Without neglecting their duties at home, they continued meeting. The women brought their children and would take turns looking after them. Gradually, other women joined in the game, and their team, Las Diablillas (The Little Devils), was born. After a tournament organized by the municipality of Tulum, they learned the rules of softball and traded sticks for bats. But they decided to practice their own way: barefoot and dressed in huipil, the white tunic with embroidered floral motifs that most Mayan women wear.
Little by little, other women鈥檚 softball teams have formed in surrounding villages.
鈥淭here are more and more teams and more fans,鈥� says Ms. May Chulim. 鈥淢any people tell us that we are an inspiration.鈥�
The team鈥檚 fame has brought invitations for the women to play matches on other softball diamonds outside their community. The women of Hondzonot, who would probably never have left their village if not for softball, have traveled across much of the Yucat谩n Peninsula, sharing their experiences with other athletes and proudly representing their Mayan culture.
鈥淲e never imagined we would get this far,鈥� Ms. May Chulim says, enthusiastically remembering the team鈥檚 hard beginnings. 鈥淣ow the question is not who will give us permission, but who will be able to stop us.鈥�