Evie Estime and Isabella Sosa are two of five girls from the Tampa Bay area who were selected to play in the Youth World Cup.
But that trip is expensive, and the young soccer players’ families can’t afford the $7,000 price tag for their girls to travel to Sweden this summer.
So, Sosa’s mom, Daniela Pinto, hit the streets, going door-to-door to businesses, looking for support.
But almost every business closed the door in her face, each saying it wouldn’t help them out financially because they are “just two girls,” and not a team.
The girls weren’t invited as part of a team; however, they each got individual invites.
The rest of the players from the area who will join the U12 U.S. team can afford the trip — Sosa and Estime’s families are not as fortunate.
“It’s completely out of reach for them because we don’t have the financial means of other teams,” Pinto said.
Sosa is a sixth grader, but she has been playing for the varsity high school team because of how talented she is. Both girls are honor roll students and youth leaders who have been training for years for this opportunity.
The Gothia Cup, which is the largest international youth soccer tournament, will be held from Thursday, July 10, through Sunday, July 20.
But Pinto said this experience has shown her why so many girls drop out of youth sports at this age — they don’t get the support they need.
“At this critical age, encouragement can mean the difference between pursuing a dream and letting it slip away,” she said.
She said the lack of support from the community has been disheartening and discouraging.
“It’s just awful,” Pinto said.
The only luck Pinto has had was at Publix, which allowed her to set up a table outside the stores and do a small raffle. They raised just over $1,000 toward their $14,000 goal, which they need by Tuesday, July 1.
In the meantime, the families are going to continue knocking on doors, posting on social media and trying to rally support from their community.
You can donate to Estime and Sosa’s journey to the Gothia Cup through their GoFundMe page, www.gofundme.com/f/send-evie-isabella-to-the-world-youth-cup.
