GIRLS soccer team

Hey everybody. Stephanie here. Just wanted to share with you some cool news about our soccer ministry and ask for your prayers. About two months ago, our head coach Frank asked me if I'd be interested in starting and coaching a girls' soccer team. Fully aware of my limited Spanish I hesitated, but then when I found out there wasn't another woman at our church who knew anything about soccer, I felt a gentle nudge from God, figured He would take care of me and I should just go for it. I immediately googled "Soccer Terminology in Spanish" to begin the process of learning the vocab! Our first Sunday morning practice, we had three girls show up... all from the Zona Colonial (which is close to our church) but as the word spread through our boys team that a girls team was going to start, our numbers grew. Last Sunday morning, we had 17 girls (ages 8-24) show up ready to play. They may have been wearing skirts and penny loafers, but they were ready.
Going into this, I really didn't know what coaching a girls' soccer team had to do with my role here... and I certainly didn't know how rare an opportunity like this is for women in the Dominican Republic. As an American woman who was born in '78, I started playing all sorts of sports, instruments, you-name-it, by age 6. I always thought - and had the opportunities - to do anything a boy could do (part of this was the influence of my parents... but nonetheless the opportunities were there).
This would not be the case in the overall culture here in the DR. The second week, one of my leaders (age 36) asked me if she could join the team or if we were planning to start a women's league, that she had never been part of any kind of sports team or anything like this in her life... my other leader said the same (age 32). Expectations and opportunities for many women here are limited. These two women now help me with the devotional time/prayer requests at the beginning of each practice... which has been interesting to see the girls respond to us asking them if there is anything they need prayer for and see their prayers answered.
Since then, I've had a 16-year-old Dominican young woman step up as assistant coach. She plays for her private high school and is excited about helping out and even giving away her old cleats and soccer shorts. My latest thinking is to bring in professional women from our church to practice and have them talk about what they do and their story... Anyway, this has become a highlight of my time here so far to watch God lead in an area where I'm sooooo weak and bless this little team of girls.