Being a state stricken by lack of accessibility and resources, the aspirations in Mizoram are chained to modest limits.
Football, still, finds a way. It lets dreams foster. Chhakchhuak Lallawmzuala lived that dream.
“There was just one academy in my district back when I started playing and I joined it,” Lallawmzuala says.
It was nothing fancy. He had a field to play, he got some training time to time and that was enough to propel him into the Indian football circuit.
After a career spanning half-a-decade, travelling the length and breadth of the country, winning the I-League, earning an India camp call-up, Lallawmzuala, now a part of the Reliance Foundation Young Champs’ Naupang League, hopes he can pass on the baton.
“I did not have a big physique. If I can make it so can my boys. You just need to put in the work,” Lallawmzuala says, who trains the under-11 Aizawl team.
Aizawl under-11 team training under coach Chhakchhuak Lallawmzuala | Photo Credit: ABHISHEK SAINI
The 33-year-old’s big break came after an appearance in the Santosh Trophy for Mizoram. Shillong-based Royal Wahingdoh handed him his contract. His next stop was Shillong Lajong before joining his hometown’s Aizawl FC in 2016 - a team that would go onto script history and win an I-League title.
“My playing career ended in 2017 and I moved back to Aizawl,” says Lallawmzuala.
His coaching career was off the blocks with an E certificate course with the All India Football Association. His debut appointment was at the grassroots programme of the state association.
“We used to train throughout the year and at the end, we played a couple of friendlies with teams from around our localities,” Lallawmzuala says.
Things took a turn for the better when the Reliance Foundation came knocking at their door. The Naupang League was conceived where his under-11 team was offered the chance to play 33 games in a league format.
Similar leagues were taking place in Champhai, Kolasib and Lenglui simultaneously, and the culmination of the competition was an inter-district championship between the winners of the four leagues.
Lallawmzuala’s boys first clinched the title in Aizawl followed by the inter-district bragging rights.
“Before Reliance came, the system went like this,” Lallawmzuala says as he gestures his hand to depict a flat line.
“There was no improvement. We were not going down either.
The sheen of artificial turfs, jerseys, proper goalposts and branding were enough to get parents and players excited. The participation has increased since and Reliance has proven to be a game changer, Lallawmzuala feels
Aizawl undrr-11 team with coach Chhakchhuak Lallawmzuala. | Photo Credit: ABHISHEK SAINI
To supplement the seven-month competition, the Naupang League has decentralised coaching sessions. “Whatever the kids learn, they have a chance to put that to use in the games. So training goes into game situations which is crucial for technical development,” Lallawmzuala says.
Lallawmzuala had once shared the India camp with the likes of Clifford Miranda, Renedy Singh and Mahesh Gawli. An honour, he calls it.
“I particularly admired how Renedy Singh played, but they were all exceptional,” Lallawmzuala says.
While once Lallawmzuala aspired to play like his contemporaries, he’s chosen a starkly different path for his coaching career.
Mizoram is a factory line for the Indian leagues. But even the best, most-glaring talents catch attention only in their teenage years. The Naupang League hopes to bring this down by a couple of years. It’s this shared vision that keeps Lallawmzuala content with grassroots football.
“Whatever I learned, whatever I saw - In the India camp, in the I-League - I want to pass all of that to my players,” Lallawmzuala says.
Lallawmzuala is the first to inspire his players to aim big but he is prompt in brushing them with reality too. While the big league offers potential on one hand, the reality can be brutal on the other. For all his exploits, even Lallawmzuala was at his best for just five years.
This is where Lallawmzuala leans into his former coach Khalid Jamil’s handbook. “His dedication to the game struck a chord with me,” he says.
“I tell my boys, if you want one blessing from god, let that be hard work. You might not turn out to be the most successful but at least you can have the satisfaction of giving it your all.”
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