Editor's Note: I wrote this a few months ago for Manav Sadhna's 2013 annual report. A shorter version may make it in there, but wanted to share the full version, which captures the program and children's stories nicely.
Overview
The
MS football program began as a humble, informal practice organized by
some football-loving volunteers with a small handful of children. Two
years later, it has become a full-fledged program within Manav Sadhna.
Many of the children have been a regular part of the program for over a
year, with a deep commitment and a genuine passion for the game.
There
are currently roughly 31 children in the program. They range in age
from 8-16 years. The main activity of the program is a weekly practice
on Sunday morning at Manav Sadhna. This practice has been happening
regularly for over a year. The children warm up, stretch, work ball
drills, play small sided games, and usually end with a match splitting
all the children into two teams. Practice ends with a brief coaching
session and nutritious snack.
As the children have improved their skills, they have also participated in city tournaments and other more competitive programs.
Going
forward, we aim to provide the football program with a dedicated ground
with enough space to practice all aspects of the game without
disturbance. The children will also be given more chances to play in
larger and more competitive venues. Finally, we will look to increase
the number of children in the program, including younger children as
well as girls.
Practice
Every
Sunday morning, 15-35 children come for the main football practice.
Another 4 children attend Sunday practice irregularly and/or have just
started coming regularly.
The
children come from various neighborhoods of Ahmedabad: Powerhouse,
Jamalpur, Wadaj (Ramapir no Tekro), Ashramshalla (Manav Sadhna). Several
of the children come from Jamalpur, a slum area on the opposite side of
the city. To make the 7am practice, the children wake up at 5am, board a
bus by 6am, and arrive at the Gandhi Ashram by 7am. It is the
children’s commitment and passion for the game that drives them to wake
up early on a Sunday morning to come and play.
Practice
typically lasts for 3 hours. After a warm-up run and stretching, the
children work on ball skills and passing through drills organized by the
coaches. The emphasis is on ball control and teamwork. The children are
then led into small-sided games and keep-away. Key aspects of the game,
such as shooting and set pieces, are also practiced. Finally, all of
the children are split up and play one large match.
Once
a month, practice is shortened and a filmed professional match is
screened for the children inside Manav Sadhna. Having little exposure to
top-class football, these film sessions are critical to helping build
the children’s model of how the game can and should be played.
At
the end, the practice is recapped and the children get an opportunity
to share about what they liked and didn’t about the practice, and how to
improve. The coaches offer some guidance, and then a snack consisting
of fruits and biscuits is served.
Outside
of Sunday practice, the children informally (but regularly) practice on
their own. Scrounging for balls around their neighborhoods (all of the
program’s equipment is kept in a locker at MS), they find and patch old
discarded balls and play. Committed to improving their skills, they
organize themselves into drills they learn on Sundays, in addition to
fun matches.
The
Manav Sadhna football program is coordinated by Rahul and Neil. Rahul is a staff member 
at MS and also runs arts programs for the
children. Since a young age, Rahul has had a deep passion for sports,
especially football. However, as a child he was never given the
opportunity to play. Now, as a coach, he plays through the children. His
dream is to have a player compete at the Olympic level. Rahul is the
backbone of the football program. He rides his bicycle from several
kilometers outside Ahmedabad every day to work at MS. Whether it’s a
weekend or holiday, you can always count on Rahulbhai to be there to
help and put in effort with the utmost sincerity and care. He shows
tough love with the football team, being strict when they make mistakes
but being generous with praise when they show well. Neil is a volunteer
from the US who grew up around the game of soccer. He is thrilled to
have the game in his life through this program, and is committed to
seeing it reach and benefit any child at MS who is passionate about the
sport.
Kahaani
In
March 2012, the MS football program connected with Kahaani Football
Academy, the premier children’s football club in Ahmedabad. Kahaani’s
director, Manisha Shah, has been a huge supporter of the MS program. She
offered Kahaani’s large grass sports ground to MS for Sunday practice.
This is a hugely valuable opportunity for the children, who normally
play on confined dirt patches in the Gandhi Ashram. However, travelling
to the grounds has been a challenge, with so many children to manage
safely. When available, the players and coaches take MS’ Khushi bus to
Kahaani for practices.
Tournaments and Exhibitions
Kahaani
has also graciously included MS players in football tournaments that
they regularly organized. In January, 6 players from MS (U-13)
participated in the tournament. They played two matches on mixed teams
with Kahaani players, playing against others from all over Ahmedabad. It
was a great opportunity for the children to taste competition with
players beyond their own teammates.
In
March, Manav Sadhna organized an exhibition match at Abhay Ghat. All of
the children participated, split up into two teams. The field was
chalked out and goals with posts and crossbars were erected. Teachers,
family members, and fellow MS students filled the sidelines and cheered
both teams on with flags prepared by the coaches. The match was a
rousing success, with high-quality play from all the players.
Equipment
All
of the children in the program have soccer equipment (1 pair shoes, 1
pair shin guards, 1 pair long socks, 1-2 shorts, 1-2 jerseys) that they
keep and maintain themselves.
A significant amount of the equipment have come via donation from people around the world.
The
initial donation came from Football Action in the UK, which sent balls,
jerseys, cones and other equipment that was critical for the program to
launch.
However,
shoes were still in short supply. Later, an individual walking through
the Ashram spotted the children playing barefoot, was moved, and
spontaneously wrote a cheque to cover shoes for the first batch of
players in the program: http://theorganicindian.blogspot.in/2012/01/shoes.html.
As
the children play on harsh conditions, shoes and balls get worn down
relatively quickly. Manav Sadhna has stepped in to keep the supply of
these two critical equipments in supply for the children. In addition,
Manav Sadhna has procured a first aid kit and has covered the costs of
the snacks since the program began.
Program Successes
The
most compelling indicator that the children find value in the program
is their sincere dedication to practice and playing the game. Despite
the difficulties of travel, playing on dirt fields with dust flying,
being constrained by the lack of area, the children play on with no
complaints. They attend practices very regularly, only missing them when
they must study for important exams.
One
shining example is Dasarath, a player from Jamalpur. Dasarath comes
from a very challenged family background. To earn for himself, he works
as a sweeper and rag picker. This work requires him to wake up early in
the morning daily to do sweeping before he gets ready for school.
Dasarath
is crazy for football. On Sundays, he still has to do his work. So he
wakes up at 2am and works until 4am. He comes back home, gets ready, and
goes around the neighborhood waking up and gathering the other
children. He then leads them on a run for several kilometers to the main
bus stand at Paldi, where they catch a bus the rest of the way to make
practice on time.
The
children have improved their skills as football players significantly
since they began. Starting from scratch, the children could not dribble
or pass, let alone understand spacing and movement. Since then, the
children play with skill, combining discipline and creativity. They
diligently work in drills as well as play matches. They listen to the
coaches and take their advice seriously. They have truly become students
of the game. During film sessions, the children used to grow impatient,
only wanting the see the goals. Now, they patiently absorb full
90-minute matches, appreciating the subtleties of build-up, defensive
positioning, spacing and movement, and set pieces. They model their
style of play after FC Barcelona, using quick and precise passing to
break down their opponent.
Robin,
one of the program’s more talented players, was invited by Kahaani to
join their academy. Our vision is to send one child from the MS football
program to the Indian National Football Team.
Team
sports certainly imparts many valuable life skills. These children have
markedly improved in their teamwork, cooperation, patience, and
communication during practices. They have become proud and
self-confident as athletes and young people
Looking Ahead
The
future is bright for the Manav Sadhna football program. With the
successful development of our first group of children into formidable
team players, MS will look to expand and improve the program in a few
key areas:
Expose
the children to more competitive playing opportunities. Enrolling them
in camps, tournaments, and academies that let them grow their passion
and skills for the game. This will require financial and human resources
for coordinating participation and entrance fees.
Construct
a dedicated grass field for the children to train and play matches.
With limited space in the Ashramshalla, the children cannot fully
develop their skills. They need a large dedicated practice field.
Ideally it should be grass, since the dirt fields lead to the children
breathing in large amounts of dust as they play. Manav Sadhna has
identified a field and cleared some debris, but more funds are required
to finish the project
Improve
the nutrition of the children. They are served a snack after Sunday
practice, but they require regular nutritious meals to keep their
strength and grow at healthy level.
In
the harsh conditions that they play in, the children require regularly
replaced equipment including balls, shoes, socks, jerseys and shorts.
Resources
A blog provides regular updates about the football program, with videos and pictures:
http://theorganicindian.blogspot.in/search/label/football
The other day in the office I was speaking with an engineering candidate for his final round interview. We were looking at some code and I was explaining our architecture. Later on Hemakshi remarked to me, "You were so excited to talk about code!". I didn't realize it at the time, but I really was. Since I'm the only engineer on the team, I rarely get to do it, nor does the team hear me talk about it. But once we got into the discussion and the guy showed interest and asked good questions, it was really fun and engaging to talk about this body of work I have been chipping away at for the better part of the last four years.
