Based on a true story, The Dallas Sting follows a group of high school girls from Dallas who traveled to China in 1984 as underdogs and beat several top women’s teams from China, Australia and Italy.
Kari Skogland is directing the film Dallas Sting, in which American comedian Matthew McConaughey will play Bill Kinder, the coach who leads a ragtag group of Texas teenage girls to success. Long before the US women’s team dominated the Olympics and World Championships, there was the Dallas Sting. Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger are producing the film, along with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Robbie Rogers. Michael McGrath serves as executive producer. Written by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch. Filming is expected to begin this fall in New Orleans.
EXCLUSIVE: Matthew McConaughey will star in “Dallas Bite,”a fact-based story about how a group of high school girls from Dallas traveled to China in 1984 as the absolute underdog and beat some of the top women’s teams from China, Australia and beyond. Italy https://t.co/ACvoWvM6cF
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The Incredible Story of the Dallas Sting, America’s First Women’s Soccer Team
For a little more context. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan made an attempt to open relations with China. In return, China offered America to send its women’s soccer team to the first World Cup it hosted. The problem is that there was no command. A nationwide search then led officials to a league of Dallas under-19 high school girls who dubbed themselves “The Sting”after recent blockbuster Robert Redford and Paul Newman. The story of this passionate group of young women who came to China, led by Kinder, who had no football coaching experience before forming the team, is amazing. And what did they do against the best women’s teams in China,
To form a team almost 40 years ago, Kinder had to get a certificate from a gynecologist that playing football does not harm the female reproductive organs. Texas parents who imagined their daughters waving pom-poms at halftime soon became fans of this eclectic mix of girls, coached by a Lombardi-worthy coach, and became a local powerhouse. They then overcame bureaucracy to make the trip and rose to the occasion despite being underdogs against dominant international teams. All under the guidance of a coach who believed in Sting so much that he got 85.