Finding My Passion
Mace Pena Ramirez, Italy
We have teamed up with the adidas Breaking Barriers Project to share the inspiring stories of 16 Champions across Europe as they advocate for women and girls in sport within their local communities. The first instalment of this series showcases six Champions from the UK, Italy and Poland who are all working to support the next generation of women in football. Mace Pena Ramirez is a photojournalist from Venezuela who now leads communications for Balon Mundial in Turin, Italy.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us about how you got involved in football? What has your football journey been like up until now?
I am Maria Cecilia, a 28-year-old Venezuelan currently living in Turin, Italy. I am known as ‘MaCe,’ which comes from the first two letters of Maria and Cecilia. I studied journalism and photography. My undergraduate was in Caracas, Venezuela, and I pursued my Master's degree in Communication Sciences in Turin, Italy.
I joined Balon Mundial as a volunteer in September 2021, and as of May 2022, I am responsible for the Communications team. Balon Mundial is an organisation that promotes an inclusive society by empowering individuals and communities through football.
I started playing five-a-side football in 2021 as an amateur, and now I play as a goalkeeper for Santa Rita in Serie C. Within a year of playing football, I was invited to join Santa Rita. At the same time, I started my journey as a football3 coach and mediator, bringing the sport into schools.
As a child, my main barrier in sports was my parents. However, after many conversations, they now support my decision to play and work in sports. Currently, my primary challenge is transportation to the pitch and finding a goalkeeper coach who can train me regularly, because, typically, they are only available for goalkeepers on the men’s teams.
Why did you start working in your community? Why are you motivated to do the work that you do? Why do you think your work with girls is important?
Balon Mundial was the first place where my photographic skills were appreciated in this new country. In Venezuela, I worked as a war and conflict photojournalist, and when I arrived in Italy, I had to work for a few years in places like restaurants or delivery services. Balon Mundial gave me the opportunity to work with my passion again. I felt completely welcome, and, at Balon Mundial, I also found my new passion: football.
I am now a football3 mediator with Balon Mundial. Football3 is an educational method we use to teach our values and soft skills through football. Each game has a set of rules created by the two teams together, and the team that plays with more respect and fair play wins.
This role reminds me of my closest school teachers, who taught lessons I would remember for the rest of my life. These teachers wisely let us make mistakes and realise errors ourselves, while speaking to us calmly. This is what the mediator does. She listens to players, does not judge, makes players feel comfortable, and helps them learn while having fun! The mediator tries to carry out the football3 activity objectively, letting players learn together with others.
As a migrant player, I found friendship and a place to spend my free time through football in my community. I needed that to adapt myself to this new culture, and I wanted to share that space with others that had similar needs. I started working at Balon Mundial to improve the experience for other people with similar circumstances to me. I believe it is essential to help people find a safe and comfortable place to stay and enjoy themselves during their free time.
Where were the photos taken?
The photos were taken everywhere, including events organised by Balon Mundial and tournaments I played in. Additionally, there are photos from the final match of the Serie C championship that we won! These photos are a testimony to my diverse relationship with football as an organiser; player; teacher; student; and spectator - embracing every aspect of the sport!
What did you try to capture with your photos? Was there a deeper meaning to the photos?
In some of the photos, there are families and children around a pitch in the middle of the main square of Aosta for a tournament. I love how the kids watched the women's games like they were their superheroes!
There are also photos that show the behind-the-scenes photo shoot for the global campaign of the adidas Football Collective for the Women’s World Cup. I was one of the main characters of the video, together with three other girls from the Balon Mundial community. We had A LOT of fun shooting!
For me, photography will always have a deeper meaning, and I tried to shoot with ease and spontaneity in those few minutes I have free while working on the field.
What is your favourite photograph? Why?
My favourite photo is the one that shows Hanan and Joy on the sideline because they are two players that give everything on the field, even though they only recently started to play football. I have learned a lot from Hanan and Joy because they represent strength, resiliency, courage, and gratitude.
And also... what a nice Rembrandt-style illumination on Joy's face!
Why is football important for your community? Why is it important to you?
Football is important to many cultures. It is a common language that brings people together from over 30 nationalities in our community. Football provides a platform for communication and unity as it allows us to share our values with the community and brings everyone together in one place. This is where the work of Balon Mundial begins, as we aim to change the world by building connections within our community.
Balon Mundial was born as a tournament for the different national communities living in Turin. The way we found, and still find, these communities is by engaging with one single person in the community and this person then connects with his or her whole community to participate in our activities. Once they are all together in the same place at the same time, the magic happens. There is always a positive atmosphere where people exchange their traditions through sports, food, music, and dances.
Over the years, Balon Mundial has not just created the space and invited people to show their traditions, but it also organises courses and tournaments where people can play with others from all over the world.
What role does football play in your community and your culture or society? What are some of the prevailing challenges for women and girls in your communities?
Football has different roles in my community. For younger people, football means spending quality time with friends. For adults, football is a healthy way to stay active. For Balon Mundial, football has been a tool to teach values like respect, gender equality, fair play, and soft skills in the community. As an organisation, our main challenge is reminding everyone that the pitch is also a space for girls and women. In some cultures we work with, women do not play football, so the men and boys feel like the owners of the pitch. Balon Mundial always raises a voice for girls and women while finding a safe place for them to play.
There are a few opportunities in Turin for girls to start playing football, but the problem is that they are far from the city centre. I would like to see more teams and facilities welcoming girls and women, but compared to where we were in the past, we are getting better.
What impact has the adidas Breaking Barriers Project had on your journey as a leader and change-maker in women’s football? What are your ambitions for the future?
The adidas Breaking Barriers Project helps my colleagues and I create safe spaces and opportunities for hundreds of women and girls in our community, through projects like New Five. New Five is an initiative that I helped create in the Piedmont region of Italy. In this region, football was less accessible to women and girls due to the level of experience required and the high level of cost to play. Through the New Five project, we aim to provide more opportunities for women and girls to get involved with five-a-side football in the region. The support of the adidas Breaking Barriers Champion Project means that we are able to run our second edition of the project in October 2023 for even more women and girls.
Without the adidas Breaking Barriers Champion Project, this would be impossible.
We are improving gender equality by creating safe spaces for women on and off the pitch. The future of football will have less prejudice and more diversity on the pitch, not only in my community, but throughout Italy. I want to change the way people live football. I would love to see a change where football means values and fair play. Where the objective is to play with respect for the others, with the knowledge that the people of the younger generations are watching. I would love to see a world where women's football is as important as men’s football.
Want to join us in breaking barriers for women and girls in Europe? Join the adidas Breaking Barriers Academy here.
