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Oak Park High School students make history by calling soccer games in Spanish

Oak Park Spanish Soccer Broadcast
Posted at 9:16 PM, Sep 29, 2022
and last updated 2022-09-29 23:41:30-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two students from Oak Park High School are making history by calling the school's soccer games in Spanish.

"It just feels like my dreams are coming true, that I'm becoming a broadcaster," Alicia Porraz said.

Porraz said she's been preparing for Thursday night since she was a kid, watching soccer with her grandfather.

"We'd sit there and I would pretend I was a commentator, (that) I was broadcaster," Porraz said.

Porraz and her friend Genesis Lopez, are now behind the microphone, calling their high school's matches in their native tongue of Spanish.

It's an opportunity made possible by the North Kansas City School District during Hispanic Heritage Month.

Lopez called her first match last week.

"It was so nerve wracking, I was so scared and nervous," she said. "I think the first half, I didn't know what to say."

The pair said they're still learning the craft of commentary on the fly.

"It was definitely difficult knowing all the names, I had to get a roster list and look at the number see who it was," Lopez said.

The two juniors call the game in the stadium press box, with a remote control room in the high school running the live stream.

Lopez and Porraz are the first students to broadcast their school's sports in Spanish, and they want this to become a staple after Hispanic Heritage Month.

"Me and Genesis, being the first ones to do this, I would really love after I graduate and leave, I want this to continue," Porraz said.

They're trailblazers and role models for their Hispanic peers.

"That's true, other little girls can see that and have interest in what I'm doing, and you know, what to do that in their future," Lopez said.

After Porraz called games next to her grandfather, he's watching and listening from home.

"He's really happy for me, because that's all we would do, so he's really excited to hear my voice," she said.