The next few interviews are from my visit with Slum Soccer
in April. I am finally getting to these interviews, mainly because I wasn’t
sure how to present them. These are some of tougher interviews and life
experiences that I’ve heard here so far. For the sake of anonymity, I am simply going
to present his reply in first person so his name is not disclosed.
This is a glimpse into one of the Slum Soccer coaches’ lives
. I asked him one question, “ How has sports influenced your life?”
This was his reply.
“ I came to Nagpur in 2009, when I was in 8th standard
(grade). My father had a drinking problem for years and continued drinking even
after our move to Nagpur. After we moved to the ‘colony’ close by here, my father’s
habits improved a little bit. I enjoyed my new school, but the people were not
necessarily good people. There were a lot of drugs there and it was a very
violent environment. I unfortunately continued in my father’s footsteps. I was
involved in a lot of violence and drugs. My 11th and 12th
standards (grades) were very tough even though my father was getting better by
then. At this point I played a lot of
cricket even though I knew that there was no future for me in cricket, but I
enjoyed it. Then, one day one of my friends were selected for football (soccer)
and I decided to go to his match (game). This was when I decided to join Slum Soccer
and really make a career out of football (soccer) , as best I could. Slum Soccer
gave me a way to become friends with the good kids, and taught me etiquette and
leadership. The head coach gave showed me around and later let me coach a girls
team.
Though things were good on this side of my life, my father
was not doing well at this time. One day
when my father was drinking a lot, I pushed my father and accidentally gave him
a head injury. Then, my father hired someone to kill me and filed a case
against me. The case was dismissed and I managed to stay safe, but it was a
very crazy and scary time for me, as you can imagine.
Things are better now. My father is actually in police
training and is working on his drinking problem. I am much better now and
working to help my family, which is my mother, and younger brother and sister. I continue to watch cricket on the side and
enjoy my time at Slum Soccer. Slum soccer has given me a lot- leadership experience,
English speaking practice, and people to teach me how to act.”
