Saint Beltran

At River, once a month they held a mixed training session between some reserve team players and the women's squad. The idea was to work on intensity and speed.

In theory.

Because some people took advantage of the situation to try to be funny.

The taunts could be heard as soon as the game started.

—Don't press the button so hard, she'll start crying.

—Let her score a goal, then she can upload the photo to Instagram.

I kept playing.

I didn't pay them any attention.

Until a Reserve midfielder started looking for me on every ball.

He wasn't going for the ball.

It was coming for me.

First, a push.

Then a kick from behind.

And in the next play he grabbed me by the waist to stop me when I was walking away on my own.

I fell to the floor.

"Oh, sorry!" he said, laughing with his colleagues.

The coach let it continue.

I woke up angry.

Five minutes later I faced it again.

Again.

The same kid arrived late and ran into me with everything.

I fell to my knees.

This time I stayed on the floor for a few seconds.

From the goal, Santiago could already see everything.

He said nothing...

Until he heard the same player let out a laugh.

—Is that how the women's team plays? I thought they could last a bit longer.

The whistle hadn't blown yet when Santiago ran out from his goal.

He pushed her by the chest.

—Do you want to play football or act like a smart aleck?

The other one laughed.

—What's wrong, Beltrán? Is she your girlfriend or what?

Santiago did not back down an inch.

-No.

She paused, still looking at him.

—But you need to hit a woman to feel more like a player...

Maybe football isn't for you.

The entire training session fell silent.

The coach stopped practice.

I stood up slowly and placed a hand on Santiago's arm.

-That's it...

He still had his jaw clenched.

Without taking his eyes off the other man, he replied:

-No.

He's not here.

Because one thing is playing hard...

And it's quite another thing to believe that you can be disrespectful because you have a woman in front of you.

They suspended training that day.