Photo by: Greg Wolf

While Ángela talks to a customer from inside her stand in the market, her grandson, Marvin Abanleiva (9), plays with the basketball that Ángela keeps tucked away there.

Ángela speaks how basketball unites the women of San Pedro.

Audio: Ángelaaudio.swf

 

Ángela Rodríguez

Ever since Ángela Rodríguez was a child growing up in San Pedro, she has loved to play basketball.

"It´s marvelous, it´s a beautiful sport," she says.

Along with a group of women she works with in San Pedro´s downtown market, Rodríguez eagerly joined the women´s basketball league when it was formed a year ago. Ángela´s team is aptly named La Feria, meaning market in Spanish.

Yet it´s a wonder how Ángela Rodrigez finds time to play basketball. She is a mother of four and a full-time worker. One of her sons, Santiago, has muscular dystrophy and is restricted to a wheel-chair at age 24. Rodríguez´s husband, Eduardo, suffers from bone deterioration in his hands, which prevents him from working.

Therefore, the traditional male-female roles have been reversed in her family: Rodrigez works while her husband takes care of Santiago at home.

She works from 11am till 9pm six days a week at a small stand in the market, selling everything from wool sweaters to ceramic trinkets.

Still, every morning before work, Rodrigez washes Santiago, feeds him, and even takes him outside in his wheel-chair for some fresh air. Her work ethic is fierce; her ability to care is tireless.

Basketball, for Rodríguez, is an opportunity to escape a little bit from all these responsibilites, to feel as though she were a young girl playing in the dusty streets of San Pedro again.

She admits that it´s challenging at times to balance her roles as a mother, a bread-winner, and a basketball player.

"It´s difficult, but I leave everything behind when I play basketball," she says.

That´s why she tries to get her work done ahead of time and looks forward to every Sunday, when the women´s league meets for its matches. She doesn´t care about winning, just participating.

Basketball is even more special to Rodrigez because her son, Santiago, loves to watch her play. Sunday is the only day of the week when Santiago leaves the confines of the family´s home and front-yard.

He is her biggest fan.