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!