Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Young football players from Madhya Pradesh’s ‘Mini Brazil’, picked to travel to Germany for advanced coaching, are excited and happy beyond words.
They said that they would like to make a career in football and would try their best to imbibe whatever they are taught there, adding that they had never thought they would travel on plane, go abroad.
Three boys and two girls from Vicharpur in the Shahdol district have been selected by the State Sports Department to train under German football player and coach Dietmar Beiersdorfer.
Beiersdorfer has taken the initiative to train the young players and their coach at Hamburger SV, a football club in the Hamburg city of Germany. The players will be leaving India on October 3 and their coaching will begin from October 4-12. The visa applications of the players are being processed and those approved will finally travel to Germany.
The young footballers are in the age group 15-17 years and come from humble rural backgrounds. Two each are tribals and Dalits, while one comes from an OBC caste. A coach would accompany them. They include Suhani Kol and Veerendra Baiga (both STs), Saniya Kunde and Manish Ghasiya (both SCs) and Pritam Kumar (OBC). Laxmi Sahees would accompany them as their coach.
15-year-old Suhani is a student of Grade 10. She has already played at the national level in U-14 and U-19 tournaments. “I had never thought I would ever travel on an aircraft,” she said. The players were taken to Mumbai by air to get their Visas made. “That was only an hour’s journey. The flight to Germany will take eight hours,” she says excitedly.
Suhani’s father had passed away ten years ago and she, along with her mother and a younger brother, lives at her Nani's place. Her mother sells clothes for a living. “Initially, Nani used to stop me from playing. But once achievements came my way, she agreed,” Suhani said. Ronaldo is her favourite footballer.
15-year-old Saniya, whose father works in a DJ group, said that her excitement is “bahut jyada wala”. Her grandfather also used to play football and her elder brother is also a footballer. “Bhaiya told me that I should not play because I may get hurt. But I did not stop,” she said.
Pritam’s father had passed away when he was a child and her mother works in a private hospital. No one in his family is a football player. “I have played at the national level twice,” he said. 17-year-old Manish is elated to get an opportunity to travel abroad. “I only want that I should take maximum advantage of the coaching,” he said.
