They were either orphaned at birth, or were born into families which could not provide for them — but football gave these Indian kids a life that others can only dream of! Slum Soccer, an organisation which works to uplift the lives of children from underprivileged backgrounds, has been training these kids. Now, they’re all set to represent India at the Homeless World Cup in Scotland, and the Donosti Cup in Spain.
For Homkant Surandase, coach of the team representing India at the Homeless World Cup, life is pretty much coming full circle. Homkant, the son of a marginal labourer from a village in Maharashtra, found football to be a lifesaver at a time when many farmers in his area were committing suicide and he was cut adrift.
Homkant represented India at the Homeless World Cup in 2008 and has been coaching children in the game ever since. “Most of the children I work with are from slums but have an interest in the sport. It is a proud moment for me, to see them experience the world for the first time through a sport that they love,” he tells DC.
A group of 30 will be playing for India at two separate sporting events — 16 (8 in the girls’ team and 8 in the boys’) at the Homeless World Cup in Scotland from July 10 to 16, and 14 kids at the Donosti Cup in Spain from July 3 to 9, which is an under-12 cup only for boys. 12 out of these 30 children belong to namma Tamil Nadu!
The kids are selected and trained extensively through a progression of local, state level, and national level rounds.
“Children from across the country have been training in Chennai for these two international tournaments, with the help of the Homeless World Cup Director of Football, Andy Hook, who has flown in from Scotland to train them,” says Akshay Madhavan, the Chief Operations Officer at Slum Soccer.
Over the past decade, the organisation has been able to identify some excellent football players irrespective of race, religion, gender, and economic backgrounds, Akshay adds. Among the many organisations that have been keeping Slum Soccer going, FIFA is one.
“They have been training for the past few weeks and will play against some of the local Scottish teams in Edinburgh before the cup begins in Glasgow. We are hopeful that they’ll bring the cup home,” Homkant smiles.
Little did these kids imagine that their interest in football would one day take them places and make them famous, but now that they are in this, they say the only way to do it is to make India proud of them.
For Chennai boy Prabhakar, 21, the game has given him the hope to become a coach and mentor many more kids like himself. “When I started playing, I wasn’t good at it but now I’m hopeful of becoming a coach myself some day and train others. I’m happy I will get to travel to another country, which is a first for me and we’re hoping we will make India proud in Scotland,” Prabhakar shares.
Aakansha Shelari, an 18-year-old goalie from Nagpur is overwhelmed that she will be playing for the country, and says that winning is the only option for her team. She spent her childhood in bitter poverty and witnessed her father’s demise through alcohol addictions.
“We had no hope earlier in life that we would be at this stage. But I’m very excited that I have this opportunity and I’m extremely determined to win. It is the only option for my team. We have been training for five to seven hours each day for the cup, and I wish the days were longer to allow us to train for longer hours,” Aakansha states.
For these kids, even the sky isn’t a limit!
