Dominican Republic Women's National Team prepares for the Concacaf W Gold Cup in Delaware

The Dominican Republic Women’s National Team has begun their journey in the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup Qualifications. They’re in League B, Group C with Bermuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. Winning the group means they’ll be in the playoff system with a chance to go on to the Concacaf W Gold Cup next year. To get things started, they held their first camp in Middletown, Delaware.

Wait, what? Where?

Nestled in a tract of townhouses barely old enough to drink is Middletown Village Fields, home of Delaware Union Soccer Club. When I got there it was quiet, save for the players and the training staff going through their paces. As people started to arrive I spoke with Jeff Martino, President of Delaware Union Soccer Club, who walked me through how the Dominican Republic Women’s National Team came to Middletown. He received an email from John Marte, a Delaware resident and Coordinator for the Dominican Republic Soccer Federation, asking if there were any available fields. The team wanted to train on grass, since their matches on the road against Bermuda and at home against Barbados would both be on that surface. “I saw it as a great opportunity to provide a service,” says Martino “and maybe get some exposure for Delaware and the club, and maybe inspire some of our athletes (and to show them) the next level, what it looks like.”

From there, the team booked a hotel in the area and started making arrangements for the players - at least the ones that could make it. A lot of the Dominican Republic’s players are in colleges in the US, some of whom were reluctant to let players go during their season.

Not long before the end of the practice, Robert Martínez came up to the edge of the field carrying his dog Lily and a Dominican flag. He hung the flag on a fence, and after giving the dog some pets I asked Martínez about coming to the practice. Earlier in the day he’d been out getting Lily groomed and he saw a group of people all wearing the same shirt. “And then I noticed it said on the back of (the shirt) República Dominicana,” Martínez says. So he pulled up next to them and said “Hey guys! What are you guys doing? Are you here from a team or something?” They told him they were with the Women’s National Team and that they’d be practicing at the fields later, so he (and Lily) came on down.

“It's amazing,” he says. “I mean, how often do you get the chance to see a national team from a country, especially from the country that I was born in actually in real life?” Martínez continues, beaming. “To be this close to them, so it's amazing seeing them play and all the hard work they're putting into it. It's truly amazing.”

Delaware isn’t all that odd of a choice for the Dominican Republic’s camp. According to the US Census estimates for 2021, there are about 6,000 Dominicans in Delaware, a state whose population eclipsed 1 million for the first time in 2021. There’s a large Dominican population in New Castle County, which is where Middletown as well as the population centers of Wilmington and Newark are located. Wilmington’s Dominican Café is a local institution, and the First State’s ties to the team are strong. Goalkeeper Odaliana Gómez attends the University of Delaware in Newark, Alexia Pacheco attends Goldey-Beacom in Pike Creek, about halfway between Newark and Wilmington, and Lynette Ureña attended school at Delaware State, an HBCU (Historically Black College and University) in Dover, about 20 minutes south of Middletown.

A few more players hail from surrounding areas like Northern New Jersey and New York, a short two hour drive to the other end of the New Jersey Turnpike. Head coach Henry Parra tells me in Spanish that he knows there’s a large Dominican community in Delaware, and “we have many players close to this area, and we want to be here so we can later travel to Bermuda.”

Parra is focused however on the group in front of him as well as the group is facing in the competition. He knows Bermuda is a physical side, “but (we need to) do a very good job tactically to be able to get the result ahead.” This is Parra’s third FIFA window, and his goals are clear. “(To) continue growing as a team, growing as a group… There are many new players, so what we want is to strengthen ourselves as a group.”

Practice finishes up, and a team of tween girls that had been practicing a few fields over comes up. The sides start talking, with the girls asking lots of questions. One of them challenges the team to a race, with one of the players responding that she’d lose to the local girl “because I’m an old lady” drawing laughs from a lot of the older bystanders, me included.

When one girl ask if the team gets bonuses for playing, I’m struck by the reality of a girl not legally old enough to work asking a group of young women if they’ll get paid for their labor. The players assure her they will. I’m hopeful by the time these girls are old enough to be attending camps like this that they won’t need to ask if they too will be paid for their labor. The girls’ coach asks the team if they have any advice to give before they head back to practice, and as if on cue one of his girls shouts “never give up!” Everyone starts laughing and clapping.

They pose for photos and the girls’ coach coaxes them all back to their field for practice, and then Martínez is invited in for a photo. The players all immediately gravitate to Lily, who gets tons of attention and even makes it into some photos of the squad.

Parra also understands the role this camp plays. “We want to get closer to the people, and for the people to get closer to us. It’s fundamental for women’s soccer in the Dominican Republic to have this support.” This may be the first of many camps the team holds in the First State, especially given the connection between the team and the local fans.

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