Meeting at altitude girls

The growth of women’s football worldwide has been remarkable. The typical picaditos seen in squares, schools and neighborhood canchitas are no longer the privilege of men alone. More and more girls and teenagers are joining, as well as many adults who years ago did not dare or could not, because the daily tasks they perform do not always allow them to have time for physical and recreational exercises.

Sometimes when he talks about this discipline, he usually only talks about the players. However, the analysis should be more comprehensive: there are coaches, assistants, referees, managers and journalists who constantly monitor their growth. Since 2012, the women’s competition has been official in the Santa Fe League, and one of the flags in this sense is Cynthia Giustini, better known as “Pitu”. El Litoral spoke to the former Unión player, who today is dedicated to training players from a young age in the city of Recreo and where they will hold school meetings.

-What is this idea for, Pitu?

– This is a specific project that we are implementing together with Natalia Reynoso and Maximiliano Luna. This is a small women’s soccer training school that we started 2 years ago with the girls, and today we have twenty people in charge. We are an important group, we work in a very good way. We have now successfully held the first meeting so that the girls can enjoy the game and try to pick up what they are learning in class. It was the same on Sunday at the La Caprichosa complex, in the town of Recreo (Gdor Freyre, Javier de la Rosa and, S3018 Recreo).

-How was the organization?

-Very good. The tournament was divided by age, in this case from 6 to 13 years. Fortunately we have 5 pitches on the property because several schools have joined. To give them the opportunity to play multiple games, we have created these playgrounds by category. It was a large number of girls between clubs and training schools from 16 institutions. Also very important was the presence of the audience who enjoyed a wonderful day.

-You used to be a player, now you have a training role, how do you analyze it?

Yes, and the truth is that it suits me very well. You saw that in the feminine we started the opposite (laughs). It starts with the older girls, and now it’s time to shape up. In my case, I feel like a mother because I take care of them, talk to them, play with them. Sometimes they even bring me toys to practice to have fun with, it makes me happy. The goal is to teach them that they can play and have fun with the ball. When I was a girl, I never had a small school, I didn’t share my childhood with girls playing football, it was all with boys. Of course, I suffered from this speech that girls shouldn’t play football, but I continued because I liked it. Today, I am still focused on my goals, to continue to teach and give space to the world of girls in soccer so that tomorrow they have opportunities.

-Then it seems right to you to start from minor to major?

-Of course. In Santa Fesina we started from the big ones down and now we are in this formative stage. The girls already know how to stand on the court, how much to run, it’s impressive how quickly they learn the concepts. I have girls from 4 years old who are 7 today that I take to watch women’s premiership matches. Only they tell me “I play in this zone” or questions related to the development of the match itself. To listen to them at such a young age and know that they understand you, to see them reflected in big girls and take them as an example, fills you with pride and satisfaction. I have no doubt that this is the path we must follow so that the feminine can grow as it deserves.

-How do you see women’s football in the province?

I see it super positively. I am very happy, more than proud, that the district is committed to giving girls their space and place. In Recreo, my town, there are four or five clubs that bet on it. We walk slowly, but we tread very heavily. What will be needed is a kind of watching for the girls to reach other clubs, especially in Buenos Aires. But it will come, that’s one of the goals. Also the trainer workshop which has been developed recently, a project of Noelia Formento. Various talks are given there, including nutritionists and even CPR courses. This is a very important advance.

-As a former player, what can you tell us?

– I played at Universidad de Almirante Brown, at Unión, where “Cacho” Roteta was. Later I became a coach of a selection of players with Elsa Oronado, we went to Concepción del Uruguay, to the matches of the central region. I have great memories of my time as a player, I’m far from that today, but I love playing the role of a teacher.