Melissa Guerra, 23, uses her experience being forbidden from playing soccer in Venezuela to being a collegiate athlete to teach young girls in Miami Lakes, Fla. to play the sport. Photo by Corey Erb

It took Melissa Andreina Guerra, 23, a long time to go from watching her brother play soccer in Venezuela to being an American collegiate athlete and now teaching young girls the sport she loves.

Guerra grew up in Venezuela, where she wasn’t allowed to play soccer.

“It was a rough sport, a sport for boys,” she said.  “I wasn’t allowed to play because, due to our culture and our way of being, our family was all about an image.”

Gustavo Guerra, Melissa’s father, said that she was not the first female in the family to be restricted from playing sports.

“My wife’s father never let [my wife] play sports or do anything physical, not even riding a bike or learning how to swim because that was for men,” he said.

In the early 1990s, as a middle class family in Venezuela, the Guerras began feeling more in danger of being robbed or kidnapped in Caracas.

“If you have money in Venezuela, you’re not secure in the streets,” Melissa Guerra said.

Mr. Guerra ran an import-export company in Venezuela after studying in the United States.  He developed business ties between the two countries, hoping to eventually move to the United States. In April 1993, Gustavo and Janet Guerra immigrated with their children to South Florida.

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Once the family had established a home in Miami Lakes, Fla., Guerra’s parents slowly warmed up to the idea of Melissa being around sports.  At the age of 10, Guerra became the “water girl” for her older brother’s recreational soccer team.  She was allowed to give the boys water, inflate the soccer balls and pick up the cups.

“[Being a water girl] was my way of being around the balls,” she said, adding that was how she learned the fundamentals of the game.  “What was accepted in my mother’s and father’s eyes was to be a water girl because I was servicing the boys.”

Guerra’s parents signed her up for etiquette classes, cheerleading teams and modeling lessons, but it wasn’t until the age of 12 that she was finally given the chance to play in a recreational soccer league.

“My father kind of stood up for me and said ‘you know what, let’s just give this a try,’” she said.

“Eventually, I let her play because I didn’t want her to be a frustrated individual,” Mr. Guerra said. “I didn’t want her to resent me for not letting her play the sport she loved.”

Melanie Guerra, 22, said she saw her older sister’s attitude change for the better once she was allowed to play soccer.

“She started developing into the person she wanted to be,” Melanie said.  “[Melissa became] a more positive person because she was fulfilling her own needs.”

Melissa moved up from a recreational league to traveling teams and eventually played in high school.  She then joined the women’s soccer team at St. Thomas University, where she earned a scholarship that allowed her to go to college for free while playing her favorite game.

Now Guerra coaches two different teams of young girls in Miami Lakes, the community where she was first given the chance to pursue her dream.

Her father believes that because of soccer his daughter is “a happier person and a leader.”

“To me, it’s an honor to see her as a coach,” he said.

Although soccer never came easy for Guerra, she says she doesn’t regret the efforts she had to undertake to be able to play.

“Soccer has been such a struggle in my life, and it’s made me who I am today,” she said.  “Now, I am giving back to the community what I once wanted to be given to me.”