An Experiment With Football # 6

A monster runs over the field we play. The grey clouds make their way to Raghunath Pura. The farmers decide its time that their fields are ready to be ploughed, the jowar & corn are being sowed. From tomorrow onwards, we need to find a a new space to play. Pretty difficult, when the guys do not want to travel and there is no plain space nearby. 

While Gaurav, guards the post, they are learning how to kick the ball in air and shoot it with power. None could shoot it with real power. They cannot afford to get shoes now, most of them don't have more then 2 pair of clothes. I cannot ask them to buy shorts. One of them told me, if he could cut the bottom of his jean.

Most of the girls have stopped coming to play. The reason said to me is that they have lot of household work. Lalita hasn't come to play since 3 days. Basanti, Hema are regular, but I see that they are losing interest as they got no friends at play. Tomorrow we plan to visit their parents, talk to other villagers and ask them for their daughters to be at the ground every evening for the practice. 

The tractor is right behind us. After 15 minutes of play from here, it devours the space on which we stand. We are practicing the 'formation' where a side attacks and other keeps defending. The idea is to help them understand why possession and passes are important. Few have started to get it. They now know when to run, when to dribble etc. Though not anything is near to be average even, but they are enjoying the game !! 

Attack vs Defense 

We practice dribbling at a place, which is a walkway for villagers.Two rows are made up and guys are asked to dribble between the gap and the one who finishes first are the winners. It's a good thing as they are keen to keep the ball under their feet and control. Hopefully they can dribble better in this way.

Later on, we went to a new village today. It's a little far from IIM U hostel, but it was worth the effort as we met the sarpanch of Kaali Magri. It must be having some 50 households. We are going to interact with them tomorrow at evening. I plan to stay at Raghunath Pura and Gaurav would head to Kaali Magri. We plan to have a match soon  just for fun and create that excitement --------- Raghunath Pura vs Kaali Magri !!!