On September 5, the Mexican Women's National Team will play Angel City in the inaugural Copa Angelina. This celebration of LA's rich Mexican heritage has special significance for Bianca Henninger, ACFC's senior manager of client hospitality. Henninger, who is Mexican-American, played soccer professionally from 2012 to 2019, and represented Mexico at the international level. We spoke about identity, race, family, and how all that ties in with Copa Angelina.
You grew up in the Bay Area, but represented Mexico at the international level. How did you come to that decision?
Obviously I've been Mexican-American my whole life. My mom is one of 11 kids. Her father grew up on the border of Texas and Mexico, and her mom grew up in Mexico. So I have a lot of background and connection there. It's always felt like a like a dichotomy between my soccer life—where I'm granted every opportunity available to me to develop and train and whatever I need—and this other part of my life, being part of a community or culture that is not afforded the same opportunities.
I think a lot of people looked at [my time playing for Mexico] as 'you didn't get your shot [in the U.S.], so you went there.' But it was much more that these are two really big parts of my life—it was similar to choosing a college, right? I could go to UNC, who's won however many national championships, or I could go to another place to try and make a difference in their history. Not to say that I did anything substantial there, but that was the thought process behind going over to Mexico.
You first got called into camp for Mexico in 2015. What was your time with the national team like?
It was a rollercoaster. I tore my hamstring right before that first camp, so it was a little bit of a bummer in terms of, there was a lot of buildup and excitement—and it took forever to get all the documents I needed—then showing up with a torn hamstring and having them say, 'Hey, so, you can't move.'
My next opportunity was for Olympic qualifiers. Camps when you're preparing for those types of events are notoriously hard. Because I'd shown up injured before, they basically said, 'We're going to put you specifically through three-a-days, and if you make it, you'll make the roster.' That was a curveball, but I survived and didn't tear anything! And I got to be a part of that Olympic qualification process, which, funny enough, was in the U.S.
Could you expand a little on what you said earlier—how the decision to play for Mexico wasn't about not getting a shot with the U.S., but about identifying with your Mexican heritage?
It was a super difficult journey. For me, race has always been a super loaded topic. I'm very much white-passing and don't really look like how I feel, in terms of my actual direct lineage and cultural background. That's been frustrating for me for a multitude of reasons. One, because I am white-passing, my voice is heard in spaces where the rest of the community doesn't get heard and doesn't get to be seen, and is not afforded the same opportunities.
Then at the same time, I've often felt like I'm not accepted by either side—which is not to say my life is harder than it is, my life is wonderful—but there's a really good quote in Selena about how when you're Mexican-American, like, you're never American enough for the Americans, and never Mexican enough for the Mexicans. That really resonated with me, because it was hard to find a place to fit in.
With the national team, I just wanted to be a part of this really special program and make sure they knew that I was going over there to join the wonderful thing they already had going. It was never like I was giving up and going to this team. It's always been a big part of who I am and something that I'm really, really proud of. So that was where I landed with that.
Could you talk a little about your upbringing? Is that tension you described between the two cultures something you felt growing up?
I grew up in a family of lawyers—the whole Mexican family side of the family are lawyers. My grandpa, my mom's dad, was the first lawyer in the history of California to get a 'three strikes' sentence overturned in a case. So he was a big, big deal on that front. He worked with Cesar Chavez. My mom, being his daughter—in that culture, a lot of women are not afforded any opportunities in terms of investment in their schooling or their passions. Her dad went out on a limb to get her through college and law school. She went to Stanford Law School. She was looked down upon a ton for not being white and just seeming like she didn't fit in there.
So that's been a big part of my identity that she shared with me when I was growing up. Her name is Moreno. So when people like judges see that name in court, there's that tie to her dad. A big part of my life, even as a young soccer player, has been that Moreno family tradition of persevering through things, or making something out of nothing.
Like I said, my mom's one of 11, so we had huge family gatherings where a ton of people show up and there's tacos in the backyard and people are just yelling at each other, having a good time. You bring people into that environment and it's super overwhelming, and I'm like, 'this has always been my life, these wild people that I grew up with!'
That liveliness and spirit of Mexican culture has been like a foundation in my identity throughout my life. So to be able to represent Mexico internationally, this culture that has brought so much joy, so much family, so much energy to who I am, was a really proud moment for me.
That's the story of LA, too, right? Obviously there are people from every corner of the globe here, but Latinx culture is so essential to the city.
Yeah, that's been a really cool part of moving to LA. The Bay is similar, but I think LA is even more a bicultural city. It's very evident like everywhere you look. That's one of my favorite parts of working at Angel City—I think a lot of our fan base is a representation of that. To have something that's such a huge part of my life and who I am, to see that represented when I walk around the stadium in the people who make up our community, it's a really cool facet of working here.
In LA in general, I think it's everywhere you turn. It's always right around the corner and right in front of you. For me, this goes back to being so white-passing and almost ashamed of that, because I want to look like everyone else in my family, and I'm so proud of who they are and what they represent. I think you see that in LA, where a lot of it is just right in front of your face and gets looked past. There's so much beautiful history and culture that's been built up here over the years. I would love to continue to shine a light on that at Angel City.
Let's talk about Copa Angelina—your former national team will be playing against the club you currently work for. Are you excited?
I think it's a really cool opportunity. This is not a game that's happened before, either in our league or really anywhere. You don't see a lot of club versus country. I think what's cool about it is that it's such a clean slate for both teams to try things out. This is a really unique circumstance that like you're not going to have the chance at for a while. How often do you get to play against players from the Mexican league, and how often do they get to go up against NWSL teams?
It's also cool to get the opportunity to play this team that is rebuilding itself right now. We're meeting them kind of at the beginning of their journey. So to know that we could look back on this in three, four years' time, when maybe they're about to qualify for the Olympics or the World Cup—to be able to say that we were there for the first steps that they took—that's really exciting. And for this to be in the inaugural season of Angel City—we're just getting started, and they're revamping this program that's trying to get back to its storied history. I think it's a cool connection.
