They have day jobs. they take care of children. They then take to the field at night and train for their country as dedicated athletes.
That’s how Diana Flores, Mexico’s world champion flag football quarterback and NFL ambassador for the sport, describes some of her teammates.
At the 2022 World Games, Flores, 25, led the Mexican national team to an impressive 39-6 gold medal victory, scoring four touchdowns.
Their success on the field proves women deserve to be paid just like male athletes, she said.
“My sport is not professional. I’ve been playing representing my country for the last 10 years and I never got anything,” Flores said in a video interview with NBC News. “It’s the same for me and my teammates.”
And while Mexico’s top flag football players believe becoming world champions in their sport will inspire other female athletes to break through gender barriers, the pay gap remains wide.
“Female players here in Mexico have to work 10 hours to earn what the male players earn in an hour. That’s the situation we’re in right now. At least that’s what I know about soccer in our country. ,” she said as an example.
A Mexican Senate committee last week endorsed a bill that would require equal pay for women in sports.
According to the draft bill, top-level male soccer players in the Mexican league earn 643,000 pesos, or about $37,185.47 a month, while female players earn an average of just 3,700 pesos, or $216 a month.
First woman and proud of her heritage
Flores will be featured Tuesday on PBS’s “Groundbreakers,” a show focused on women in sports hosted by former No. 1 tennis champion and sports legend Billie Jean King.
Flores gained widespread recognition in the United States this year after becoming the first Latino to compete in the National NFL Flag Football Championship and appearing in the first Super Bowl commercial, “Run With It.”
The spot shows the Mexican quarterback running past King in the parking lot, dodging All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams in a parrot mascot costume, and people chasing Flores’ yellow football flag. There is. In the commercial, Flores spoke in Spanish to the actor who played his mother, which Flores said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times was meaningful because it conveyed a message of unity between two cultures. .
Flores’ football jersey used in the Super Bowl commercial is now on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the first piece of memorabilia from a flag football player.
Flores carries himself with confidence on TV and on the field. But she is mindful of her humble beginnings in the sport, when she didn’t necessarily have the support she needed as a woman.
“I started playing flag football in Mexico City when I was eight years old. The sport wasn’t that popular at the time. We didn’t have many options to practice,” she said. “It was thought to be a sport only for men.”
Despite this, Flores says her father fostered her love of soccer. Her father also played in Mexico City at the high school and college levels.
Both father and daughter bonded over being Pittsburgh Steelers fans. Flores says he studied the movements of other quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
But outside of her childhood home, gender disparities shaped her early experiences as a soccer player.
Flores recalls that the soccer club where she started playing had a large stadium with natural grass and lights. However, because the field was reserved for men’s teams, she was not allowed to play there.
Instead, she trained and played in the backfield.
“It was literally a field of dirt filled with rocks and sometimes trash,” she said. “Coach would ask us to bring trash bags every day so we could spend the first 15 minutes just cleaning the field.”
Flores continues to recall this memory, she said, because it shows how far women have come in the field of sports.
At age 14, Flores moved to the United States to play flag football in Boston. After that, she continued to play with older players, mainly women and men. At the age of 16, she was called up to the Mexican national team.
Since then, Flores has won bronze, silver and gold medals with Mexico.
Now, she and her team are looking to 2028, when flag football debuts as an Olympic sport.
Flores strongly believes that if female athletes have more equal opportunities, they can not only bring more fans to the stadium, but also win more championships.
In the meantime, she wants to inspire women to achieve their athletic goals.
“Keep doing it for yourself, for your dreams, and for those who come after you,” she said. “Never stop fighting, continue on this path and build your legacy.”