Sara Gama does not remember the first time she kicked a soccer ball.
“I can't even remember when I started," she tells . "It feels like I have always been doing it.”
But when she speaks of her life today, Gama is adamant about one thing: she is the 'capitana' (captain) of the Italian women' soccer team.
Using a female noun in Italian, as opposed to the male 'capitano', matters for Sara because, “words are important - they can change reality.”
In these few lines, her character and credo shines through. Sara is playing to defeat prejudice and change the narrative of sport and society in Italy.
The footballer was born in Trieste of Italian–Congolese descent. Despite her family not being into soccer, she started playing for local football teams from the age of seven. “It was written in the stars”, as she is used to saying.
Sara Gama, captain Italian female national soccer team Source: https://www.facebook.com/SaraSpeedyGama/
It has been a fast rise from becoming the Juventus women's club captain to guaranteeing the Italian women's team a place in the next Women's World Cup in France this year.
“We have no idea how far we will go, but after 20 years Italy has qualified for the international cup again.”
The last shot at a World Cup for Italy’s women was in 1999.
While many Italian football fans were still licking their wounds for the men's failure to qualify for the Russian World Cup, the women's team made the cut.
In a country where male players earn massive contracts and football is a religion to some, the news went viral.
But for non-professionals and female athletes the story is different. In Italy, 'amateur' players get only up to $30,000 in reimbursement.
It’s not only about the money, as Sara explained.
“Even if I play for Juventus, I have no formal recognition for what I do. If you look at my documents, there is nothing that says I am a footballer.
“Italy has old and obsolete laws that don't formally prevent women from becoming professionals but in fact create a profound discrimination.”
Sara is not only fighting against the way things are on the field. She has also been appointed to the board of the Italian soccer federation, and there has a chance to make serious inroads on structural inequity for women players.
“When a girl in Italy starts playing, she has no expectation of becoming a celebrity, but things are changing fast.”
For the first time this year an Italian TV station will broadcast the Women's national soccer championship and from 2020 the funding for female soccer will double.
“Italians are starting to like the values we showcase," Gama says. "Our soccer is creative and is a reminder of the old times, when footballers used to play with less technique but with their hearts.”
Gama hopes for a social revolution for her country's game, with a reorienting of the role models children look up to.
“I do not look at male role models in soccer, female soccer is creating its own role models. Each of us has her own originality, we all count.”
In recognition of Gama's role model status for younger generations, Mattel last year created a Barbie doll with her features, as part of a series called 'Sheroes' that includes 17 inspirational women from the past and the present.
“The idea is to suggest new role models to the younger generations,” the footballer tells SBS Italian. “If the message is conveyed using an object that in the past has represented a stereotypical female model, I believe that the campaign's impact is even stronger.”
Sara thinks that her physical apparance is not important.
Sara Gama, captain of the Italian female national soccer team Source: https://www.facebook.com/SaraSpeedyGama/
“The only aesthetic I know is the aesthetic of the game. It should be the only reason why people fall in love with us and talk about us.”
Despite being a “young sport that needs to grow at a tactical and a professional level,” she is convinced that “women's soccer is improving and its growth is ultimately a matter of exposure. Understanding beats prejudice.”
