He gets the ball and gracefully weaves through three or four players before cutting it back one more time to bend it into the far corner and score a goal as he freewheels into wild celebration. While this might sound like a description of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a goal, that’s exactly what it feels like as the 18-year-old Shahrukh Shaikh makes a slide on the astro-turf to celebrate his strike, amidst cheer from his teammates.
Shahrukh is part of the development team constituting of rag pickers from Dharavi, who are being trained by the coaches from Bengaluru’s South United Football Club. The first-of-its-kind, this initiative is a community programme with an aim to rope in underprivileged children and turn them into skilled footballers. At present, the centre trains around 60 kids from the age group eight to 20 years. From among these kids, talent is scouted and teams of different age groups are formed.
The grass-root programme, which focuses on children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, who are susceptible to substance abuse, crime, and other evils of society, is the brainchild of Loknath Char, CEO of the Bengaluru-based club.
“We started it as a community programme for the underprivileged children, but we wanted it to be more than about making kids play football. We wanted them to have goals and aspirations and provide them with opportunities to build a career in sports,” says Loknath, adding, “Kids from areas like Dharavi are prone to fall for vices which can be life threatening. Sports helps them channelise their energy creatively and make them independent and better human beings.”
The kids involved in their programme are being trained under the watchful eyes of professional coaches, who have been imparting footballing knowledge to them for the last two years.
The best of the lot have been selected to be a part of a development team, which will be participating in the third division of the Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) League next year and Rakesh Tulsiram, coach of the team is confident that his boys are ready to take the next step. He says, “When we started two years ago, these kids were alien to football. But now, we see a scope in them. They can reach new levels. So, this season we have decided to make a team and play in the MDFA league. Now, there is an objective in their approach.”
Rakesh, who works alongside head coach, Shushant Pawar, feels playing competitive matches has helped the kids understand the value of both winning and losing.
The head coach, Shushant however, adds that it was quite a challenge in the initial stage. Shushant, who has also coached Dominic Savio High School to glory in Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) tournament, says football has helped children improve their personality, decision-making and teamwork. “Initially, we had a lot of difficulties. The understanding and the respect was hard to come. The abusive language, indiscipline, hot temperament and aggressive behaviour was difficult to control. So, we provided them with a lot of counselling. Slowly they have come to understand that this programme is for them. Earlier, we had a shortage of equipment. But over the years, we have overcome these challenges. We have come a long way.”
“I’ve known the kids from Day One; there has been a tremendous improvement in terms of their discipline and social behaviour. The challenge for us was to make them enjoy the game. Most of these guys are tuned toward cricket. So, to get used to the game was bit difficult for them. We took them for a few Indian Super League games last season, so now they follow the game on television and otherwise. They have been showing a lot of interest. There is good team spirit and they are aware of the big names such as Messi and Ronaldo. They want to imitate their stars,” he adds.
According to Rakesh, the programme is not only limited to improving the footballing skills of the children, but also to help them grow their personality off the field. “This is not only about football — we teach them how to stay disciplined outside the football field too. When they come on the pitch they behave, but outside the pitch their behaviour is unruly. Coming from less fortunate backgrounds, they used to indulge in several bad habits. But football has given them a diversion. And now they have also realised that the game is helping them.”
Most of the boys are studying or working. Many of them aspire to join professional football clubs or become coaches. Mohsin Shaikh, a 17-year-old, who is doing his first year of Aircraft Maintenance Engineering from the Bombay Flying Club, feels football has helped them keep away from bad habits by teaching them structure, discipline, and self-respect.
“I have been involved in this programme for two years. Earlier, we used to play street football, but now after working with these coaches, our game has got a professional touch. This game has helped us become fit physically as well as mentally. Our decision-making has improved. I was abusive and used to get involved in fist-fights earlier. Now all that is in the past,” he says.
Shushant feels, this platform makes the kids dream and provides them with an opportunity to create their own identity in the future. “We want to imbibe leadership qualities in them. We want them to get a sense of ownership for the team. At one point of time, we will have to move out and let the children take over. It would be a matter of pride for them that they played in this team and would get to coach the same team. It will help inspire other underprivileged kids to follow in their footsteps,” he adds. “Football can be a medium for them to get that importance in the society. We are tying to inculcate good values and if they forge a successful career for themselves, our hard work will be paid off,” he says.
And there is indeed a bright future for these kids, feels South United owner, Sharan Parikh, who is also a football enthusiast. He adds, “We plan to send scouting reports of these kids to various European clubs. Once they are done with their training, we want these kids to play in the lower divisions of foreign leagues in the future.”
