The Stencil Man

Okay, I am going to try and explain how cool the Stencil Man was in Naninital, India. I have a feeling it won't make sense on here, but the pictures may help. I don't know how many of you have seen this. It may be really common around the world.
(Sidenote, my parents, aunts, and uncles played with this kind of stencil for hours when they were growing up, so they weren't as fascinated by this as I was. :) )

My family and I were coming down from a cable car ride in Naninital, a city in north India. My 11 year
old cousin found this man on the side of the street. The Stencil Man. He uses a plastic circular stencil to draw intense designs that you would think take hours to create.

We spoke for about 5 minutes, which gave him enough time to tell me that he only comes to Naninital during the "season" time (when the tourism is high). The rest of the time he works in a nearby village. He has been in the area since he can remember and came to Naninial even before the cable car was built. The cable car seemed to be a landmark in Naninital; everything was describe relative to when the cable car was built.


Anyway, the Stencil Man has witnessed Naninital grow through the years. His small story was the kind I wanted to share on this blog. Here is the Stencil Man's work!

Slum Soccer Girls Team (Part2) : Defenders and Goalkeepers

This is my interview with the defenders and goalkeepers at Slum Soccer. Like the first interview, these girls are in 10^th grade. They had recently finished their 10^th grade exams, which is a big deal in India. Congrats to them on being done!

Me: Who trains you girls?

Players: Homkant sir trains all of us.

Me: What about the goalkeeper? Do you have different training?

Player: Nope. Homkant sir is actually a goalkeeper himself.

Me: Oh, I didn’t realize that. So, I am going to repeat the questions from the other interview. How do your families feel about you all playing soccer?

Player: They were supportive from the beginning. I mean at first they weren’t too happy about it but after I explained myself convincingly they understood and have been supportive ever since.

Player: Supportive now.

Me: What is your background for them to be so supportive?

Player: Well, my father played football when he was younger so I guess he understood.

Player: My family has been supportive too. I don’t have a family with a background in sports, but after I joined my sister joined Slum Soccer too. She is now 11 years old.

Me: So is she on the junior team? (Nods yes)

Me: Then are you all considered the “senior” team here?

Players: Yes, we are on the “senior” team.

Me: Have you all played together for three years now? (nodded yes)

Me: What do you think of the women’s national Indian team?

Players: We simply don’t know  much about the team.

Me: How have sports impacted your work in school and education in general?

Players: Sports haven't negatively done anything. Sports only helps us.

Me: What about the 10^th grade test? Do you train or not during that time? Are you training again now?

Players: Yeah, we have started back to train now but we don’t train during our 10^th grade test.

Like the last interview, I asked them who their favorite players were. Here are the answers:

Two players said Rolando, one said Messi, and one even went outside of soccer by telling me her favorite player was Saina Nehwal , a professional Indian badminton player.

This second interview was a lot of fun because their head coach, Homkant, came to sit in on the interview. The girls ended the interview with taking the time to interview me about my background (how old I was, what did I play growing up, and what position I played in soccer).

Thanks again to the Slum Soccer girls team!

Pro4Sport Solutions: A Sports Program Ahead Of Its Time

Here's an inspiring video about a sports program called Pro4Sport Solutions in Odisha, India. I got in touch with one of their coaches through a sports for development forum. Amazing work! I hope to visit later this year to see all of their work in person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UrOX3jVnSg

Finding sports programs for girls and women is an uncommon possibility in India; I can speak for Pune at least. The Pro4Sport Solutions program in Odisha doesn't seem to let the gender barrier play a part in their coaching. That was so encouraging to see. Enjoy the video!