By Laxmi Negi
India’s under-16 team members don’t come from the richest families, but they see no barrier to their big dreams
Mumbai, Nov 12 : •With his father’s Rs 70 per day income as a farm labourer not enough, 14-year-old Prem Kumar grew up doing odd jobs in Jalandhar. But despite his exhaustive schedule, he never missed a chance to kick a ball on the football field.
• Ashish Chetri, 15, once surprised his football camp mates, who were sick of the daily menu, by cooking a finger-licking khichdi. Since his father cooks mid-day meal for kids at a school in Sikkim, Chetri developed these rudimentary culinary skills early in life.
• Ralte Lalrindika is a tireless footballer, they say. Not surprising, since running around for 90 minutes is a walk in the park for the teenager, who is used to the back-breaking manual work on the field in Mizoram.
Bare-feet beginnings are common to India’s newest football stars —the under-16 squad. After making it to the Asian Football Confederation championship by winning four out of five games in the qualifying tournament at Saudi Arabia recently, a lot is expected from these promising youngsters in times when football is finding its feet in the country after a long slump.
And after this first taste of success at the international level, the youngsters with modest backgrounds aren’t afraid to dream big. They start by talking about their goals on the football field but, eventually, they know this also means an elevation on the social ladder.
“I want to be the best striker in the country,” says Prem, who impressed everyone at Saudi Arabia with his solid play at the back. But he also aspires for financial solidity at home. “I want to earn enough so that my parents have an easy and prosperous life,” says the son of a farm hand.
Vice-captain Lalrindika, while playing on well-manicured lawns abroad, got a feel of the grass being greener away from the home. His early football days were all about kicking a ball made from old clothes on an uneven ground next to his field. “We have greenery all around, but strangely, our football fields are brown and uneven. In case we have better grounds, there will be a number of national players from Mizoram,” says Lalrindika.
Despite the lack of facilities in the interiors and their modest background, ‘small India’ has stopped complaining about the missing role models to emulate when it comes to football. Satellite television’s overwhelming presence around the country has meant these young footballers pour over English Premier League scores regularly to check the form of their adopted clubs and the latest updates about their heroes.
Malaswamfela from Mizoram, 14 , is the star of the team and the highest goal scorer at Saudi Arabai. His linguistic skills are limited—“No English or Hindi,” he says, and that’s the reason he watches every Manchester United match on television on mute. Through a translator he conveys that “this helps me to concentrate more on the ball skills of the Red Devils”.
His coach and his academy happen to be the sports channel that brings home Ronaldo, Rooney and Giggs. So much so that he left the Mohun Bagan academy at Kolkata mid-day through his stint. “I did not see any development in my game and hence discontinued the academy,” he says.
Listening to Malaswamfela’s statemate Lalrindika, one is convinced that watching television doesn’t always make kids couch potatoes. “In Mizoram we do not have coaches; all boys learn football by imitating international players after watching them on TV,” says the Arsenal/David Beckham fan.
It’s not just a North-east phenomenon, as players from Punjab and Haryana too got inspired by telly footballers. Like Prem, Arshpreet Singh too is a son of a farm hand who was discouraged by his family member to take up football seriously.
“They told me that they don’t know anyone who made money by playing football. Maybe they hadn’t heard about Ronaldo or Thierry Henry,” he says with a smile.
Coach Narayan Menon says that the Saudi Arabia experience was like a dream come true. “With the expats coming to the ground in hordes to support us, the boys were very excited. They were on the front pages of newspaper, got recognised on the streets and were treated like stars,” he says.
Indian Express
India’s under-16 team members don’t come from the richest families, but they see no barrier to their big dreams
Mumbai, Nov 12 : •With his father’s Rs 70 per day income as a farm labourer not enough, 14-year-old Prem Kumar grew up doing odd jobs in Jalandhar. But despite his exhaustive schedule, he never missed a chance to kick a ball on the football field.
• Ashish Chetri, 15, once surprised his football camp mates, who were sick of the daily menu, by cooking a finger-licking khichdi. Since his father cooks mid-day meal for kids at a school in Sikkim, Chetri developed these rudimentary culinary skills early in life.
• Ralte Lalrindika is a tireless footballer, they say. Not surprising, since running around for 90 minutes is a walk in the park for the teenager, who is used to the back-breaking manual work on the field in Mizoram.
Bare-feet beginnings are common to India’s newest football stars —the under-16 squad. After making it to the Asian Football Confederation championship by winning four out of five games in the qualifying tournament at Saudi Arabia recently, a lot is expected from these promising youngsters in times when football is finding its feet in the country after a long slump.
And after this first taste of success at the international level, the youngsters with modest backgrounds aren’t afraid to dream big. They start by talking about their goals on the football field but, eventually, they know this also means an elevation on the social ladder.
“I want to be the best striker in the country,” says Prem, who impressed everyone at Saudi Arabia with his solid play at the back. But he also aspires for financial solidity at home. “I want to earn enough so that my parents have an easy and prosperous life,” says the son of a farm hand.
Vice-captain Lalrindika, while playing on well-manicured lawns abroad, got a feel of the grass being greener away from the home. His early football days were all about kicking a ball made from old clothes on an uneven ground next to his field. “We have greenery all around, but strangely, our football fields are brown and uneven. In case we have better grounds, there will be a number of national players from Mizoram,” says Lalrindika.
Despite the lack of facilities in the interiors and their modest background, ‘small India’ has stopped complaining about the missing role models to emulate when it comes to football. Satellite television’s overwhelming presence around the country has meant these young footballers pour over English Premier League scores regularly to check the form of their adopted clubs and the latest updates about their heroes.
Malaswamfela from Mizoram, 14 , is the star of the team and the highest goal scorer at Saudi Arabai. His linguistic skills are limited—“No English or Hindi,” he says, and that’s the reason he watches every Manchester United match on television on mute. Through a translator he conveys that “this helps me to concentrate more on the ball skills of the Red Devils”.
His coach and his academy happen to be the sports channel that brings home Ronaldo, Rooney and Giggs. So much so that he left the Mohun Bagan academy at Kolkata mid-day through his stint. “I did not see any development in my game and hence discontinued the academy,” he says.
Listening to Malaswamfela’s statemate Lalrindika, one is convinced that watching television doesn’t always make kids couch potatoes. “In Mizoram we do not have coaches; all boys learn football by imitating international players after watching them on TV,” says the Arsenal/David Beckham fan.
It’s not just a North-east phenomenon, as players from Punjab and Haryana too got inspired by telly footballers. Like Prem, Arshpreet Singh too is a son of a farm hand who was discouraged by his family member to take up football seriously.
“They told me that they don’t know anyone who made money by playing football. Maybe they hadn’t heard about Ronaldo or Thierry Henry,” he says with a smile.
Coach Narayan Menon says that the Saudi Arabia experience was like a dream come true. “With the expats coming to the ground in hordes to support us, the boys were very excited. They were on the front pages of newspaper, got recognised on the streets and were treated like stars,” he says.
Indian Express
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