This is not the story I wanted to write about Marbella Ibarra.
I’d much rather be writing an article about how she helped build the women’s game in Mexico. How Liga MX Femenil has been built largely upon her work and how that is slowly awakening a slumbering giant in women’s soccer.
I’d rather ask her what it means to see the fruits of her labors. About why she took the profits from her beauty salon and started a team for women. I’d ask where she found the courage to field the Xolas de Tijuana and have them play in the United States’ Women’s Professional Soccer League because her native Mexico didn’t have a women’s pro league.