Meryland the Inspiring

For two weeks, the world has been glued to their televisions, watching elite athletes perform physical feats that we can only complete in our dreams. There’s something different about these Tokyo Games 2020. The conversation hasn’t focused solely on their physical abilities, but instead, the door has become open to the struggles most athletes face behind the scenes. You never know what the person next to you is going through, and you don’t know what drives an athlete to put their all into their respected sport.

In Gabriel Gaurano’s new short film, Team Meryland, his documentary lens shines on 12-year-old Meryland Gonzalez, one of the nation’s top junior boxers from the Watts projects in LA. The audience witnesses her fight for Gold in the Junior Olympics, all while paying homage to the struggles of her family, her training, and her past medical traumas.

In essence, Team Meryland is a sports film. You watch the rise and fall and rise again of a very talented athlete. However, what sets this documentary apart is the intimacy that is immediately showcased as the film begins. We first meet Meryland when she’s 3rd in the nation for her age-weight class, but we also get a glimpse that there was something that propelled her to this elite athletic status. The Gonzalez family exhibited vulnerability that allowed the audience into their home with open arms.

With the warm and welcoming aspect of Team Meryland, I was interested in the relationship between the family, Meryland, and Gaurano. I was surprised to learn this beautiful relationship was born out of chance. While working on another film in the Watts, Gaurano met Jorge, the patriarchy of the Gonzalez family. From there, he met more of the family, and before long he knew what his next project was going to be.

“For the next year and a half, I found myself documenting some significant moments in this family’s life and becoming so immersed into their community of Watts,” Gaurano reveals. “I was so inspired by this family’s ability to fight together through all odds that I felt pulled to document their journey as much as possible.”

A close-knit family is nothing new to athletic families. There are many sacrifices that all high-level athletes must traverse, and it takes their village to help them make it through. What Team Meryland does so beautifully is to show Meryland’s training is more than just a sport, it’s more like a therapy session. When you are embedded in such a connective environment, it’s hard not to have a life lesson rub off on you.

“For them, they don’t participate in boxing with the priority to win or obtain a highly regarded title. Instead, it’s about fighting for what you believe in, fighting with your family, and doing your best in what you love,” Gaurano says. "As Jorge puts it, what Meryland is doing is significant not because she has the chance to win gold, but because she can fight to make a difference in her life outside the ring.”

Through most of the beginning of Team Meryland there is a sense of mystery. Several times there are illusions of a cloud of illness, but nothing is explicitly said until later. That was by design. For Gaurano and the Gonzalez family, Meryland’s illness does not define her. It is something that the family went through, that Meryland battled through, but above all, they all came out on the other side. They had a second chance after she recovered, and that was the focus of the film. Team Meryland is about second chances in overcoming a life-threatening illness, as pursuing a road to the Junior Olympics, as well as overcoming the challenges of being an immigrant family. The film becomes a source of strength when those storylines are in harmony.

“More importantly, Meryland herself does not live life in the shadow of any past trauma. By going through such a tough experience, they live life to the fullest knowing that each day is a miracle and a gift,” Gaurano adds. “In fact, they see every difficulty, in-and-out of the ring, as an opportunity to grow. And we wanted to frame the film in the same way and not dwell on the hardships.”

This film was developed after a chance meeting with the Gonzalez family, but it was inspired by the family themselves. Gaurano and his team approached Team Meryland by emphasizing character instead of focusing on Meryland’s athletic journey. We see a normal preteen doing preteen activities, like walking to school with her mom and playing with her little sister at breakfast. We are reminded that this is just a family who is living their dreams daily.

“While her road to the Junior Olympics is what carries the momentum of the film, it’s truly the family’s fight outside the ring that gives this journey meaning. We wanted to hone in on that as much as possible,” Gaurano explains.

Team Meryland is more than just a sports documentary, it’s a film about persistence through adversity and finding your way to the other side of it. It’s a film about family, and now that power can propel us to heal from traumas. It’s a film about hope, and hope is what we need more of at this time.

“I hope it shows that resilient people, when working together, can achieve even the most seemingly impossible dreams,” Gaurano adds. “In a time like today, I think that someone like Meryland demonstrates a truly uplifting example of how we can make the world a better place.”

For more information on Team Meryland, follow Meryland on Instagram, follow the film on Instagram and on the official site, and follow Gaurano on Instagram, as well. 
Team Meryland recently screened at the BlackStar Film Festival and will screen at the Oscars Qualifying Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival from August 9-15.

Written by Lisa Marie Mejia
Images provided by Team Meryland