Overview

Anyone who walks into the football ground will be greeted with blaring whistles and cries of excitement, getting a glimpse of the young girls’ football team. The players are gearing up to flaunt their football flair and run for the gold.

The players started training from the 9th of August by themselves; the training has become better after the arrival of the coach. The practice sessions begin at around 5 P.M. in the evening and are scheduled for an hour and a half, but the players claim that they lose track of time during training and end up with more than two hours of practice per day. The coach presently intends to work on the team’s fitness and stamina. He has been keenly observing every individual so as to allocate positions, formulate strategies and discuss tactics in the upcoming weeks.

The team hasn’t faced any major problems and is grateful for the support that they have been receiving from the BITSian community. However, lesser number of first and second year students in the current team is a matter of concern because the seniors of the team would be obliged to leave it soon, leaving behind undesirable vacancies.

Past Performance

The team had managed to grab the 4th spot both in BOSM 2016 and the outstation tournament held in DTU last year.

Recruitments

The team seems to be in a dire need of fresh blood, preferably juniors who can continue playing in the team. It has been observed for the last couple of years that freshers do join the team, but later abandon it due to their involvement in other clubs and departments. Hence the recruitment process, which began a fortnight ago, is still going on.

Captain’s Interview

Prakriti Roy, captain of the Girls’ Football Team agreed to have a small chat regarding sports and her everyday life after her strenuous practice session. Hailing from Mumbai, Prakriti tells us that she is passionate about dancing and has tried her hand at a variety of sports, including basketball, baseball, throw ball, volleyball and athletics. She says that she enjoys football and has learnt a lot during her captaincy.

According to Prakriti, her first few weeks in this new role were quite challenging. However, with time and experience, her skills of dealing with and managing the players of the team have considerably improved. She also adds that she is expected to perform well as well as inspire the rest of her team, and agrees that such an expectation is demanding but gratifying too. As far as juggling academics and sports is concerned, she does not feel fatigued; they complement each other, in her opinion.

Prakriti is confident that the team she has assembled is dedicated; with regular practice under their coach, their game has vastly improved. However, she is aware of the weaknesses of her team when it comes to the lack of stamina and fitness. She says that the outstation players are quite built, making the home team look less intimidating, thus affecting the psyche of the game.

So far, her experience with the management has also been pleasant. When the topic of making women’s football more popular on campus came up, the captain expressed her displeasure on how high school girls are not encouraged to play football, therefore resulting in a dismal turnout for trials in college. She believes that training camps, if held on campus, would at least help in bringing awareness and helping young girls get the feel of the game.