Throughout Hispanic heritage month, The Royal Reporter has celebrated Rosary’s faculty and students who are of Hispanic culture. As the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month comes to an end, Senior Anahi Pintado would like to share her experience of playing on the Mexican Junior National Softball Team and why she considers it a celebration of her culture.

Anahi Pintado has been a catcher and 3rd baseman for the Mexican National Team for almost six years

now. At the age of 12, Anahi saw the team post about upcoming tryouts and took that opportunity to pursue the sport she loves. Not only was the team looking for outstanding sportsmanship, athleticism, and bilingual abilities, but one important requirement is having a dual citizenship in both Mexico and the United States.

This does benefit Anahi’s career path options, but it also affects her academic and school life in both positive and negative ways. “Playing on the Mexican team does cause me to miss out on school assignments and school in general. I have to sacrifice time out of my school life to be able to play for this team. I leave almost every month, and when I come back to school, there is a lot I have to catch up on. There have been times where I have to say no to traveling, so I can prioritize my academics,” explained Anahi.

Nevertheless, Anahi believes that representing the country her family comes from is very important: “It is apart of who I am.” Anahi has been blessed with the opportunity of meeting girls and creating friendships  from all over the world such as Peru, Colombia, Brazil, and of course Mexico. Anahi

explains, “There was a language barrier at first because a lot of girls from Brazil spoke Japanese or Portuguese. We all came together through our differences and had fun teaching each other some things in our language that related to our culture.” Anahi knows how to count from 1 to 10 in Japanese because of this.

Anahi continues to represent young Latina girls who are and are not first generation by playing on the Junior team, but hopes that she can soon move up and represent the full national team. Rosary is extremely proud of what Anahi has accomplished and how she represents Rosary Academy and her heritage in such a wonderful way.