School children kick up a storm in Chennai Kaalpandhu U13 football league

The tournament featured 12 teams — six each of girls and boys — drawn from six state government and corporation schools. White Spartans won the boys’ title and Team Evergreen FC won the girls’ title, and there were accessories galore for all the players.

White Spartans (boys) and Evergreen FC (girls) pose with their medals and trophies. | Photo Credit: NIGAMANTH P

Play, eat, rest, repeat. For six days, more than 150 school children between the age of 11 and 13 had a field day with this routine, participating in the Chennai Kaalpandhu U13 football league, which ended on Saturday.

The tournament featured 12 teams — six each of girls and boys — drawn from six state government and corporation schools. White Spartans won the boys’ title and Team Evergreen FC won the girls’ title, and there were accessories galore for all the players. 

Each of the participants got a football jersey, a pair of boots, shin pads and stockings. The experience left Thanushree, a Class 8 student of Kuthambakkam government school, beaming.

Thanushree, goalkeeper of league winner Evergreen FC, said, “I voluntarily took up goalkeeping. I have been training for the past five months and that helped me perform here. Playing a full-fledged 11s match instead of a toned-down version is refreshing.”

Her parents were initially hesitant when she took up football. “With time, they have changed,” said the 13-year-old. She hopes this title will help her to convince them to allow her to play even more. 

A majority of the 15 girls on the Evergreen team did not own a football boot or kit before they started the tournament. For some of them, the league matches were the first time they played with boots. “The exposure and the kit we got will help us a lot,” a group of Evergreen’s girls chorused, celebrating the win.

In the finals, Divyesh from White Spartans led his team against Team Red to the title, scoring the winning goal. Team Evergreen FC won through a shoot-out against Kids FC. Players Ramya and Arima from Evergreen Team scored in the penalty shoot-out.

Although Team Red boys went down in the finals, its player Rithish caught the eye of all the coaches with his finesse. The shortest among all the players and donning an oversized number 14 jersey, 11-year-old Rithish displayed skilful ball control and dribbling. He single-handedly led his side’s attack, which lacked pressing.

White Spartans’ players wearing the Argentinian jersey.

Football has gained popularity in Chennai with the rise of the Indian Super League and other domestic leagues. The children are also alive to international football. Incidentally, the White Spartans had a problem on its hands on the opening day of the tournament. Several players on the team wanted to wear “Messi’s number 10 jersey.” The school’s teachers found a solution. The team started carrying an Argentina number 10 jersey with the name Messi emblazoned on it for their games.

The tournament also had scouts. One of them, Dicken, said, “We cannot assess the children the way we do with senior players. We look for basic skills such as dribbling, long ball and ball control. One more complication is that we cannot divide them on the basis of the position they play. There is no concept of mid-field here as they are not mature enough to maintain their roles. Taking all this into consideration, we filter players from this pool.”

Dicken also welcomed the idea of conducting the 11s tournament instead of reducing it to 6s and 7s. “These children got this experience at a young age. Usually, these types of tournaments are six-a-side or seven at the most. Letting them play in 11s will expose them to real football and aspiring players will find it helpful.”

LatentView, a digital solution-based company, partnered with SportzVillage to host the second edition of this tournament. The first was held in 2019, but Covid-19 prevented the follow-up for two years.

Venkat Viswanathan, LatentView’s founder, said, “We were experimenting on how to spend our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) fund. Rather than doing the conventional things, we wanted something that will help the holistic development of the sport. We are happy that the children have come forward with enthusiasm and helped us conduct this event.”

Some of the talented players spotted in this tournament will be selected for a three-week training camp with recognised A and B division clubs in Chennai. “The idea is to take the children’s talent to the next level by giving them proper exposure,” said Vinoth, a member of the SportzVillage CSR team.