Part of the journey of growth for women’s sports—and women in sports—has happened outside of the football field, the racetrack, or the tennis court. And Verónica Rodríguez Cuesta, or Vero Rodríguez as she’s better known, is one of the women who have reshaped what it means to be a woman in sports.
Vero Rodríguez, a journalist who became renowned for her work on Fox Sports Mexico and who now co-hosts El Pelotazo, Telemundo Deportes’ late-night sports program, spoke to In the Zone with Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, Remezcla’s newest sports column, about her new show and making a space for women in sports.
To know Rodríguez is to know a journalist with two Sports Emmy Award nominations as an anchor, but also someone who enjoys the day-to-day of covering multiple sports. And someone who takes pride in where she is and what she’s been able to do, create a space for women in sports. “What happened to me is that they gave me the space, and it was 17 years ago.” But in those days, the work was more about writing about players, not on the field, or about tactics or technique, but about the family aspect, or what players did after they finished playing.
But it was a start, and Rodríguez took it. And then she grew into the kind of jobs that required her to have an opinion about the actual sports. “I think what’s changed in the last two decades is that, before, we had to ask for permission and have, and I think this is true to this day because there is still a long way to go, credibility. We had to show 100% every day that we were fully prepared. And that meant preparing more.”
However, if something has changed, says Rodríguez, it is that “we now know how to prepare ourselves and how to keep opening those doors. So much so that we have reached a point where today, for example, you put on a Premier League game on Telemundo and there is a woman, and you put on a Chivas game and there is a woman, and you now put on El Pelotazo at night to relax and understand what happened that day in the sports world, and there is a woman.”
And those women are not talking about a player’s significant other or their kids. They’re instead discussing sports.
El Pelotazo focuses a lot on fútbol, as the name itself promises, but Rodríguez isn’t just a one-sport woman. And neither is the show. “El Pelotazo will usually be like 70% futbol because, after all, it is the sport that moves the world, but we always include things from other sports.” Including Rodríguez’s favorites. “I personally am a fan of motorsports, specifically, or a little more Formula 1, but of course also Indy, NASCAR, etc., and I am a fan of wrestling, of Mexican wrestling.”
“That ends up being sports entertainment, but it is precisely what moves me about sport, there are two branches, the entertainment part of understanding what sport is, without having to put other things or other types of dyes, and also the sociological question. What sports bring, how people come together, how a footballer can suddenly pause a civil war for a day, right?”
And for Rodríguez, the idea behind El Pelotazo, and her career, is that the space she’s making is for women in sports in general—to have opinions, to know facts, to be respected within sports. And yes, there’s also support for women’s sports, and how great it is to be a woman covering the growth of women’s sports. Because the space Rodríguez is creating also means other girls—and boys—will normalize women knowing about sports.
“One of the most beautiful things that has happened to me that moved me so much,” Rodríguez shared, involved her nephew, who was 10 or 11 years old and playing FIFA—but with the Manchester City women’s team. “I said, Come here, tell me why you are playing with the women’s team and he was like What do you want me to answer you? Because he thought it was completely normal.”
“I loved the idea of seeing a 10-year-old boy wanting to play and that his team, the team that he chose to play the video game is the Manchester United Women’s team and that kind of thing is what we are achieving, breaking down and demystifying the question of: is it that women’s sports actually do not sell? And that’s why prizes in some sports have to be less for women?”
That’s far from reality. “It is not true. So, we are going to remove those myths. And it is not competition it is not one against the other [men’s sports and women’s sports], it’s about creating more safe spaces, which is why it’s very important to talk about women’s sport and to show passion and the knowledge that women also have behind the microphone as they discuss sports.”
You can catch up with Vero Rodríguez daily, as she brings both her opinions and her vast knowledge to Telemundo’s El Pelotazo. Because sports are and have always been, for women too.
In the Zone with Lissete Lanuza Sáenz is where sports analysis meets cultural insight. I bring a unique perspective to the world of sports, blending passion with informed commentary.
Expect montly insightful analysis, exclusive interviews, and a celebration of the diverse voices shaping the sporting landscape.
