Soccer Matches and Disappointments

So a couple of weeks ago I heard about my schools plan to have a sort of inter-school soccer tournament. My classmates had ordered jerseys and though I wasn't a part of that, I was invited by the boys in my class to play on their team. I play soccer during our gym periods so it seemed only natural for me to play with the team. However, the match occurred yesterday and I wasn't allowed to play.

I'm trying hard not to be cynical about this but after all the sexism I've dealt with here, it's really hard to ignore this very blatant example. I was told that I wasn't allowed to play because I'm a girl and it would be unfair to me to play with all boys (thus insinuating that I'm not fit enough and that I can't keep up). That's it. Even after my classmates asked me specifically to play on their team and our teacher agreed, some other teacher who I don't even know, decided that I shouldn't be allowed to play solely because I'm a girl. I could accept the decision if the reasoning was that I wasn't part of the original roster or that I didn't have an official jersey, or even that they would be holding a girls game that I could play in but none of these were the reasons I was given. From what I know, there's only a boys' tournament and the reasoning I was given for not being allowed to play was unacceptable.

In my time here I've tried to combat sexism through my actions. Arguing with people obviously doesn't work because 1) I can't convey my point in Vietnamese and 2) it doesn't get me anywhere. Instead, I've tried to challenge stereotypes by showing that girls can be athletic, strong, and unafraid of a physical challenge. I play soccer with the boys every week, I'm "good" at basketball, and I am routinely invited to join in on games when the other girls sit out. This time, however, I didn't even get the chance to show that.

I'm not going to dwell on this any longer because it just frustrates me but I really wanted to share the truth because I feel like all I write about on here is the happy and fun stuff. Like I said, I try not to be cynical which is why I haven't written about this before but what happened yesterday seemed too important to ignore.

Though I was annoyed yesterday, I still wanted my team to do well. After all, they were the ones who wanted me to play so I warmed up with the boys before the game and then cheered them on from the sidelines. The first half was a little slow but we managed to pick it up

in the second half and beat our opponents (class 8A2) 2-0! Quang Minh scored both goals so we named him "Man of the Match." Since I wasn't able to play, I got my camera out and took pictures instead. I definitely don't possess the same skill my dad has for soccer photography but I think I got a few good shots. My teammates are the players in the grey jerseys and Quang Minh is the one wearing pink cleats.

That's pretty much all for the post this week; other than that, school has been normal and I've been continuously working on my college applications. My visa finally arrived today after Dung drove pretty far to get it. We were coming up on nearly a month since I handed it over to get renewed so I was a little worried that someone had stolen it. Anyway, I have it now and I'm very thankful. Thanks for reading the post today; I'll be back Sunday with a weekend update!