The girls of Tahuichi “kick the ball” towards a future in international football.

5 March, 2025

Lucero Solar Ávila has always loved “kicking the ball around.” Her mother, Rosmery Ávila, shares this as they wait for the 12-year-old’s training session at the Tahuichi Aguilera Football Academy. “She never wanted ballet classes or anything like that,” she says. “That’s why we came here, and they gave her a scholarship.”

She has been playing football since 2021, training with the Florida team. Her father, Mario Solar, takes her to practice every day from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. “Oh, he is thrilled that his daughter is in this sport,” her mother exclaims. Her husband is proud of his daughter and has made a deal with her: she must stay committed to her studies and maintain high grades.

Fundación Nacional Vida Segura facilitates strategic alliances with international organizations to support female football players.

Her father affirms that ever since she started “kicking the ball around,” Lucero has become more energetic and responsible. He is confident that she will not let him down and will continue improving. He is grateful to Tahuichi for awarding her a scholarship and, above all, for including girls in football, a step promoted by Fundación Nacional Vida Segura.

The young girl, who plays as a right-back, attends school in the mornings. She is in her first year of secondary school. After lunch and some rest, she heads to training, and when she returns home, she does her homework. “There’s no room for laziness! She has to work hard for her future. If she becomes a professional football player, she could even play abroad. So, she needs to take advantage of this opportunity,” her mother insists.

One piece of advice she always gives her daughter is to play carefully and avoid roughness, as a serious injury could shatter her dreams. “Thankfully, she has never come home hurt or injured anyone. That’s something the girls also learn here at Tahuichi—to play fair,” she says.

Currently, more than 500 girls train at Tahuichi Academy, working towards professional careers in football.

The Solar Ávila family includes two more children: a 22-year-old son and a nine-year-old boy. Both are also passionate about football. The eldest trained at Tahuichi when he was younger and, after finishing high school, wanted to become a Physical Education teacher but didn’t have the opportunity. The youngest attends the academy with his sister.

Rosmery admits that she is the only one in the family who is not interested in football. When he was younger, her husband played as a goalkeeper and even worked as a team coordinator. Now, he never misses a Blooming derby with his three football-loving children.