[Source: Reuters]

American actress Judy Reyes and her partner and director George Valencia might be the latest to beat a path from Hollywood to British soccer but the couple’s investment in Watford Women has a grander purpose of tackling a lack of Latina representation.

Reyes, who as the daughter of Dominican immigrants, is passionate about representation and Valencia, who is of mixed Ecuadorean and Colombian descent, hope to build a bridge between Watford and under-served Latina players in the United States.

“In my career, the only way that I understood myself being an actor on screen or on stage was to see people like me who have done it,” Reyes, best known for her role in American medical sitcom “Scrubs,” said in an interview with Reuters.

“We want to create an example to our communities. In the U.S., access to football is dictated by economic status. Through this partnership with Watford, we want more people who look and sound like us involved in the sport.

“But it is a cachet thing for people in Hollywood to own a team and our goal has always been to go beyond that and do something that’s unique from it.”

Youth soccer is a multi-billion dollar industry in the U.S., said Valencia, and the pay-to-play model creates a barrier for many kids of colour.

The U.S. women’s national team has been strongly criticised for their lack of Latina players.
Hispanics make up about 19% of the total U.S. population.

However, at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Mexican-Americans Sofia Huerta and Ashley Sanchez were the first two Latina players in a U.S. squad for the tournament since Mexican-American Stephanie Cox and Cuban-American Amy Rodriguez in 2011.