acquisition.Ekblad has just one goal and zero

There was no clock in the old Catholic church, but Paola Kuri was so focused on the time she could hear the ticktock, ticktock ringing in her ears. It was a First Holy Communion like many she had attended as a little girl in Mexico City, and as usual, she was in another flower-printed dress that she couldnt wait to take off.As soon as the ceremony was over, Kuri bolted for the car. The boys might pick teams and leave her out if she didnt get to the soccer field fast enough. So, she slid on her jeans, next to her soccer jersey and tennis shoes in the backseat, and told her dad to step on the gas.It was like changing into my superhero outfit, Kuri says. When I got onto the soccer field, that was my world.The founder of?Fut sin Género (Soccer without Gender), an initiative to promote womens soccer in Mexico, Kuris obsession with the sport began as a three year old, kicking a ball in her parents backyard until the sun went down. A skinny girl with a thicket of blondish-brown hair that she stuffed into a baseball cap to look tough enough for the boys to let her play, she was a natural. Before the age of 10, she had earned a place as one of the best players in the neighborhood -- the only girl on the field.Kuris passion for soccer developed alongside a commitment to art. Before completing a communications degree from Ibero-American University, where she played soccer on an all-female team, she moved abroad to Italy to earn an MFA at Florence University of the Arts. In 2013, she and her brother Rubén co-founded Ethos Arte, an art fair that annually showcases more than 500 pieces from 60 emerging Mexican artists at the Expo Santa Fe.Around that time, Kuri also began contributing articles to a blog dedicated to womens soccer, Ellas Tambíen Saben?(They Also Know). Hoping to marry her love of art and sport, she interviewed 50 different people about what soccer means to them and posted the answers up alongside pictures of her body painted while wearing her soccer gear. Within hours, the post, #YoSoyFutbol (#IAmSoccer), was shared by notable figures in Mexico, including former national team soccer player Luis García and former first lady Margarita Zavala.I chose not to reveal the gender of any of the people, Kuri says. It was an important way of saying: It doesnt matter whether you are a man or a woman, soccer belongs to all of us, and we all love it for the same reasons.Kuris social media presence ballooned overnight. After receiving calls from newspapers and messages from people interested in discussing her project, she registered Fut sin Género and began work on campaigns promoting the sport.What weve done with Fut sin Género is hit the red button to start the conversation about womens soccer, Kuri says. We have a big task ahead of us -- we need to make a statement that will touch the whole country.For the past year, that statement was clear: Play a role in launching the first professional womens soccer league in Mexicos history.***Before Kuri arrived in the United States as a participant in the 2016 U.S. Department of State and espnW Global Sports Mentoring Program, the potential for a professional womens soccer league seemed likelier than ever.In May 2015, the Mexican Football Federation launched La Liga Nacional Femenil, the countrys first national womens amateur league. The inaugural season began with 158 teams from 19 states in two age categories: under-13 and under-16.There were 3,000 girls every week playing football, says Lucia Mijares Martinez, technical director of development for the federation.The second season would create an even wider impact, according to Martinez, with three age categories (under-13, under-15, under-17), at least five more states and a 25 percent growth in teams.Our objective (at the federation) is to motivate, engage and inspire girls in Mexico through football, Martinez says, We want to build a competitive league, train coaches and generate a platform for future womens football heroes.As Kuri returned from Los Angeles, where she spent three weeks in October and November being mentored by Joan Coraggio, group director for sponsorship and experiential marketing at Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles, the pieces for a professional league to follow the amateur league began falling into place.Then, the official announcement came on Dec. 5. The federation would launch Liga MX Femenil, a professional womens league consisting of 18 teams, for the spring of 2017.The announcement was the culmination of years of hard work by women like Kuri, Mijares Martinez and many others, including fellow GSMP alumna Cecilia Vales, who founded a nongovernmental organization, She Wins Mexico. From grassroots programs to reach girls in underserved areas of Mexico (Vales), to advocating for womens soccer from within the federation (Martinez), to rallying supporters and pushing the message of gender equality to thousands through social media (Kuri), women came together to claim a space on the field for themselves and many more to come after them.But the fact that one of her lifes greatest ambitions was fulfilled earlier this month has not slowed Kuri down.This is just the first step, Kuri says. We still face challenges: the mindset of machismo and making womens soccer popular across Mexico. But weve opened a path to get there.With the same hardworking mindset, Kuri continues striving to get girls playing soccer. In recent months, she has partnered with prominent professional European soccer clubs to support the development of girls soccer academies throughout Mexico City. Kuri and her Ethos team are also at work recovering spaces in marginalized communities, painting the fields, restoring the grass, and partnering with shoe company Puma to provide balls and cleats for girls to play.Her brother, Rubén, has had the benefit of seeing Kuris passion from the time they were kids to now as co-founders of Ethos. He remembers when the cousins would get together to play soccer and Paola was the automatic choice for team captain. He also remembers the frustration he felt when his sister would leave the house dressed like a boy, thinking it wasnt fair that she had to become someone else just so she could play.I would try to make it better by telling her to at least wear some dresses and heels when she wasnt going to play, he says. And shed tell me, No, lets go to Puma or Adidas! To this day, we may have an important meeting, and well pass by a sports store, and Ill tell her, Dont even think about it! Its our little joke.As with his older sister, the success of Fut sin Género also caught Rubén by surprise. With messages of support and invitations to lead girls clinics coming in for Kuri from Monterey, Guadalajara, Tijuana and Queretaro, she has had to step back from some of her responsibilities in the art world. But, Rubén is happy to support his sister in her other life as an advocate.I believe you are born with a gift, and this is definitely Paolas gift, he says.The gift extends from the soccer field to the internet, where Kuri manages Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts with tens of thousands of followers. In every post, she seems to share the same message that she did in the #IAmSoccer blog post more than a year ago: Soccer belongs to everyone.The future of womens soccer in Mexico is not cemented despite the establishment of the womens league. Knowing that, Kuri was led through a mental exercise by her mentor, Coraggio, before leaving Los Angeles last month. In it, Coraggio challenged her motivations for wanting a professional league for women. It was an important part of the younger woman realizing the fire that drives her comes from somewhere deeper than just making history.We are challenging ideologies that soccer is only for men, Kuri says. We are making a statement for gender equality. For me, that matters more than anything.Brian Canever is the digital content manager for the Center for Sport, Peace, & Society at the University of Tennessee and works closely with the GSMP participants.Trevor Hoffman Jersey . President of baseball operations Larry Beinfest was fired Friday after 12 years with the Marlins. The move came as the team neared the end of its third consecutive last-place season in the NL East. Bip Roberts Jersey . - The Oakland Raiders re-signed offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Friday. https://www.cheappadresjerseys.us/1823m-matt-strahm-jersey-padres.html . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team. Chris Paddack Jersey .S. hockey team after paying his dues as an NHL general manager for more than three decades and giving up a lot of his free time to help USA Hockey. Wally Joyner Jersey . U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield in Manhattan agreed that lawyers on both sides could make their formal requests by Nov. 8. A hearing is scheduled for a day earlier. Jordan Siev, a lawyer for Rodriguez, wrote in a joint letter to the judge from lawyers on both sides that MLB lawyers planned to ask that the lawsuit be dismissed.And so November is here, bearing down on an unsuspecting league like a runaway freight train. In short, if you dont come ready to play in November, youre going to get flattened.Here are five players who need to look up and see the headlights headed their way:Henrik Zetterberg, LW,?Detroit Red WingsIt has been a kind of a feast-or-famine start to the season for the Red Wings, as a six-game winning streak has been bookended by a pair of two-game slides. If Detroit is going to be more consistent, it stands to reason that its captain will lead the way.So far it has been a difficult start for Zetterberg, though, as he has just four assists in 10 games.Zetterberg, 36, missed the World Cup of Hockey because he was still recovering from injury and is coming off an NHL season that saw him register just 50 points, well off his career average, and finish with a minus-15. The classy Swede scored just once in a five-game, first-round loss to the?Tampa Bay Lightning?last spring and is clearly struggling to find his game for a Red Wings team that many picked to miss the playoffs.Patrice Bergeron, C,?Boston BruinsIts fair to suggest that the 5-4-0 Bruins are getting by early on thanks to the play of goalie?Tuukka Rask. That was apparent when Rask missed time recovering from injury last week, and its a red flag for a Bruins team desperate to get back to the playoffs after missing the postseason for two consecutive years.Bostons power play ranks dead last in the league and it is 26th in goals scored per game. One of the key offensive issues early on has been the lack of production from glue guy Bergeron. Its clear the three-time Frank J. Selke Trophy winner is not quite right, as he has just one goal in six games and bears little resemblance to the dynamo who lit it up in the World Cup while playing with tournament MVP Sidney Crosby and Bruins linemate Brad Marchand, and who led Boston a year ago with a career-best 32 goals and collected 68 points.Theres something amiss with one of the games great two-way players, and Bergeron rounding back into form is crucial to the Bruins staying in the hunt.Loui Eriksson, LW,?Vancouver CanucksHey, we get that nobody expected much from the Canucks this season (except, of course the Canucks, presumably). But they bolted out of the gate with four consecutive wins to make us all take notice before coming back to earth with four straight losses through Nov. 1.If Vancouver is going to stay relevant, its going to need a lot more from Eriksson, its key offseason acquisition. Lots of folks were critical of the six-year, $36 million deal signed by the former?Bruins?winger, who is coming off a solid, 30-goal season in 2015-16. That criticism seems valid, as Eriksson has struggled in his new ennvirons, scoring no goals with just four assists for the Canucks, who rank last in the NHL in goals scored per game.ddddddddddddLast season, Eriksson had 10 power-play goals and 17 power-play points for the Bruins. Not surprisingly given Erikssons early struggles, the Canucks power play is among the worst in the NHL, ranking 26th with just three power-play goals on 28 opportunities.Andrew Ladd, LW,?New York IslandersWhen the Islanders gave up six goals to the?Tampa Bay Lightning?through the first 32 minutes on Tuesday night en route to a 6-1 drubbing at home, it marked a low-water mark for a team that entered the season looking to build on its first playoff series victory since 1993.The Isles rank as one of the most disappointing -- and, indeed, one of the most dysfunctional -- teams in the league. And although the problems are many and varied for New York -- which is 4-6-0 and sits 15th in the Eastern Conference -- its clear its big offseason acquisition, former Winnipeg Jets captain and two-time Stanley Cup winner Ladd, hasnt yet been close to what the Isles hoped he would be.Ladd has struggled mightily to fit in with John Tavares or, frankly, anyone else with the Islanders, as he has just one assist in 10 games. Ladds struggles in the wake of signing a seven-year, $38.5 million deal have become even more noticeable given the early-season successes of former Islanders Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen, who signed with the?Buffalo Sabres and Red Wings, respectively.Keith Yandle, D,?Florida PanthersIt was a disappointing October for the defending Atlantic Division-champion Panthers, and they started November with another loss, this one a 2-1 decision to the Bruins. The loss highlighted Floridas ongoing issues with generating offense. The lack of jump has been especially noticeable from the back end, where the Panthers are expecting big things from young star Aaron Ekblad and Yandle, their big free-agent acquisition.Ekblad has just one goal and zero assists while the smooth-skating Yandle, who was inked to a seven-year deal worth $44.5 million in the summer, has chipped in just four assists in 10 games for the 4-5-1 Panthers. Just one of Yandles points has come on the power play and, perhaps not surprisingly, Florida ranks 24th in power-play efficiency. A year ago, the Panthers had the 23rd-ranked power play, and the addition of Yandle was expected to boost the units efficiency as well as help boost the teams overall offense. That hasnt happened.Honorable mentions:?Anze Kopitar, C,?Los Angeles Kings;?Mike Cammalleri, C,?New Jersey Devils;?Michal Neuvirth, G,?Philadelphia Flyers. ' ' '