Argentina Sport helps refugees reconnect with home

Every Sunday, about 100 women meet in Parque Olímpico in Buenos Aires. Using flour, they mark out a court on the grass to play a sport that brings a bit of home to their adopted country.

- Facundo Iglesia

Kickingball, a blend of football and baseball, is common across Venezuela, and the refugees who left the country during the political and economic implosion of Nicolás Maduro's government are bringing it to Argentina. "This is like having a little piece of what's yours here," said María Gabriela Pratto, 29, one of the crowd watching Jacarandá take on Académicas. The financial analyst left Venezuela in 2020 because there was no work.

She was 10 when she started playing kickingball, a variation of the US sports kickball, brought to Venezuela in 1965 by a teacher, Charito Ramírez. Two teams of 10 play on a baseball pitch, kicking footballs to score runs. If a ball is caught, the kicker is out. By the 1980s, its popularity was such that it had its own federation and national tournaments. There are teams in every school and university in Venezuela.