Spanish creative stories
Young student, Yener Agustin Vail tells a story about a girl who defies gender stereotypes and stands up for what she believes in – football! The story is written in Yener’s native Spanish, with the English translation below. As the winner of our November creative writing competiton, we will donate funds to Yener’s school (Las Barrancas) and their chosen item of writing equipment.
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La chica Iris
(The girl, Iris)
There was once a girl called Iris who liked to play football with the boys. She had always liked different things compared to her female friends.They liked to play with dolls or princesses or paint their nails. Iris preferred to go and play football with the boys in her class.
The boys were fascinated with Iris because she was much better than them. They always wanted Iris to be on her team and they respected that Iris played football.
However one day Iris’s female friends changed their minds about her. She realised that her friends did not want her to play football anymore. She felt very sad and did not understand why because she liked football they did not want to be her friend.
One morning she was walking to school when she met her friend Carolina. She decided to speak with Carolina so that they could become friends again.
‘Hi Carolina, I would like to ask you something?’ Iris said.
‘Yes’ responded Carolina.
‘Why do you not want to be my friend? Is it because I like to go and play football with the boys in the class?
For a moment Carolina was startled however finally she said shaking her head ‘it’s because you are like a boy Iris. All day every day you play football.’
However her friends eventually learnt to respect people how they would want to be respected and also realised that football is not only a game for boys but girls as well.