As the world celebrates FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, a quiet revolution is taking place at Vyasarpadi, where the baby league is kicking off
J Saktheeshwari was often the first to arrive at the playground of the Corporation school in Kalyanapuram, Vyasarpadi. The 12-year-old was not there to play football; sports, in fact, was the last thing on her mind then. She sold cut mangoes and peanuts there and had eyes only for potential customers. “But everything changed when the coaches, who noticed me, asked if I too wanted to play,” says Saktheeshwari, who is now 30 years old. She is talking about N Thangaraj and N Umapathy, who started the Slum Children Sports Talent and Education Development Society (SCSTEDS) in 1997. Today, Saktheeshwari is a football coach herself, and trains girls studying in Government schools in and around Vyasarpadi. The girls are all playing in the ongoing Baby League that SCSTEDS, with support from All India Football Federation, has been conducting all through November.
This is the first time that SCSTEDS is organising the Baby League, a format of the game that has four categories such as Under-10, 11, 12, and 13. “We have eight teams playing under each category, 250 boys and girls in total,” Umapathy explains. The children are all from disadvantaged backgrounds in North Chennai. The idea, according to Umapathy, who has played in the U-21 Nationals in the early 1990s, is to identify talent, and bring it to the notice of the Federation. “Baby League matches have long been held in other parts of the State, but we want to bring the focus on the excellent talent pool available in North Chennai,” he adds.