While girls and women in the United States have many opportunities to participate in sports, the chances to participate in athletics at a young age or professionally in other countries are not the same. Equal Playing Field (EPF) is a nonprofit organization co-founded by Laura Youngson and Erin Blankenship to improve gender equality in sports and to support opportunity, parity, and respect for girls and women in athletics through newsworthy challenges, training, and other programs.
In this film, Laura and Erin determine to set two new Guinness World Records by playing football (soccer) for 90 minutes at the highest altitude--at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro—and at the lowest altitude—near the Dead Sea in Jordan. For these challenges and using their professional connections, the nonprofit organization Equal Playing Field recruits 30 female athletes from 20 countries. Football will be their common language.
As the trip to Tanzania and the journey to climb Mount Kilimanjaro unfolds, several of the women tell their stories of becoming involved in football. Garbed in warm hiking clothes, women from Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Mexico, Azerbaijan, Jordan, and other nations describe their own individual challenges of getting a chance to play in the sport. Bringing oxygen tanks, Dr. Dana Levin accompanies the group and warns the women of the life-threatening dangers posed by high altitude sickness: headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, and even coma. No team before has played under such circumstances.
Film directors Amirose Eisenbach and Tamara Rosenfeld follow the group for seven days as the women ascend from 12,200 feet to 18,800 feet at the summit of the mountain. Close-up views of the trail reveal loose gravel and rocks with little vegetation. Glory Thobias, a female Tanzanian guide, tells how proud she is to be earning an income as a guide and believes women can do anything. On game day the women split into two teams of eleven players: yellow versus blue. Each team is allowed five substitutes. Despite the cold, the women play the full length of time and consider it a victory.
Next, Equal Playing Field travels to Jordan where the women hike for ten days until they reach a small community with a newly donated playing field next to the Dead Sea at -1,411feet below sea level. His Royal Highness Prince Ali Bin Hussein comes to extend his support to the women’s efforts and to congratulate the players after the game. The women split into two teams: the black team (Black Iris) and the white team (White Thunder).
The game is action-packed. While men watch the match from the sidelines, women are seen on the rooftops viewing as well. The group remains in Jordan to conduct football training for girls. Equal Playing Field is an inspiring work of dedication and grit that chronicles two noteworthy events in the organization’s efforts to add their voice for gender equality in sports for girls and women. Recommended. Aud: J, H, C. P.