Maria Vargas didn’t come to the Girls Positive and Safe Coaching Pathway as someone looking for direction. She came as someone ready to share what she knew, and left with more than she expected.
A 30-year-old organiser at JUF Activando Valores A.C. in Mexico City, Maria has spent years at the intersection of sport and social change. Her journey started with football – playing the sport from secondary school through university – before she discovered Ultimate after graduating. The transition turned out to be more than a change of sport. It became a vocation. “Sport for me is everything,” she says. “It’s what I do, what I seek, what I promote – a place where I can be happy, but also one that challenges me to be consistent between my words and my actions.”
A Privilege She Hasn’t Forgotten
Growing up in Mexico City, Maria had something she now recognises as far from guaranteed: unhindered access to sport. Looking back, she is frank about what that meant. Mexico, she says, is a country rich in culture, warmth, and potential – one that celebrates diversity. But it is also a country where gender roles and stereotypes remain deeply embedded, where gender-based violence is an ongoing reality, and where many girls still cannot continue in sport. “I grew up with a great privilege that even today many girls and young women still don’t have: free access to physical activity.”
That awareness is not background context for Maria – it’s the engine behind her work at JUF, where she leads school and social programmes focused on using sport, and specifically Ultimate, as a tool for community empowerment and inclusion.
Stepping In as a Facilitator
When JUF was invited to contribute to the World Flying Disc Federation’s implementation of the Girls Positive and Safe Coaching Pathway for the Latin American and Spanish-speaking community, Maria stepped in as a trainer – leading modules on safeguarding, safe sport, and menstrual health. These were areas she had been building expertise in for years. But standing in front of participants from across the region pushed her to do something different: not just share what she knew, but find new ways to make it land.
It allowed me not only to review the topics and update myself, but also to find new ways of transmitting these tools that were truly practical and useful for other organisations, teams, and coaches.
Hearing from participants working in very different contexts – different resources, different communities, different challenges – sharpened her understanding of how the same information needs to be adapted to be genuinely useful. Translating the course content from English also deepened her fluency with the concepts, giving her greater confidence and precision when working across international spaces.
What Came Back to Her
Perhaps the most striking thing Maria took from the experience wasn’t something she gave – it was something she received. Seeing the gaps that still exist in access to information and practical tools across the region brought a renewed sense of urgency. “I realised there is still a lot of work to do, inside and outside my community. The lack of access to information, or knowing how to use tools that already exist, directly impacts the strengthening of sporting environments.”
In the Latin American context especially, she says, getting methodologies that support girls and women in sport into the hands of more coaches and organisations is not just useful – it’s necessary.
Ultimate as a Vehicle for Change
What drives Maria forward is a vision for what Ultimate can be – not just a sport people play, but a genuine vehicle for integral development. “It’s an unparalleled tool for transforming and empowering communities – a platform that promotes inclusion and equity.” Seeing more girls and women learning and growing through the sport is, for her, the clearest measure of progress.
The Pathway reinforced something she already believed but now carries with greater confidence: that sharing knowledge well – clearly, practically, and with real attentiveness to context – is its own form of leadership. “It’s a great moment,” she says, “to share with passion, but also with clear and concrete information, the tools that promote safe sporting practice.”
SUCCEED Series: Stories of Impact
This story is featured through the SUCCEED Framework, which connects and amplifies initiatives that use sport and physical activity to create positive change in communities around the world. By sharing experiences, lessons learned, and examples of impact, SUCCEED supports collective learning and strengthens the global Sport for All movement.
Girls Positive and Safe Coaching Pathway 