Eve power set to score a goal

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Take no offence ‘man’-kind, girls are much serious about the sports they play. Want proof? Ask Fauziya Mampatta, the senior-most football coach of the Kerala state sports council, who is heading a summer camp at the Nadakave Girls HSS in the Kozhikode district of north Kerala.

“We are running a one-month camp and there are nearly 35 students enrolled from various regions of the district. The children want to learn the game and trust me, since the camp began on April 26 not a single one has given lame excuses to skip training,” said Fauziya.

The camp is for children between age group 8 and 14 years and is held daily for two hours. There are trainees from the city — Kunduparamba, Kakkodi, Chelennur, Parayanchery and even from the outskirt of Thiruvampadi in the district, attending the camp.

And inspiring the wannabe women footballers are experienced candidates such as Asian Sub-junior participants Nikhila T and Ashly Y M, national U-14 and U-17 player Sneha Lakshmanan and state sub-junior champ Shilpa Sridevi.

“The summer camp is organised by the Women’s Football Club of Calicut and the Kozhikode District Sports Council. We formed the club in 2007 and since then annual camps are conducted but, this year we have a lot of under-10 players coming in, which is a good sign,” added Fauziya.

Though Fauziya is single-handedly coaching the young girls, she is assisted in her campaign by few other women, who are part of the Club.

They are, president of the Club Anithakumari, physical education teacher Safiya I and Nirmala V P.

“About a decade back, women’s football was almost a neglected sport in the state but, since the inception of the club and the summer camps, things have changed a lot,” said Anithakumari, who is also a former state footballer.

Now, there are good women’s football teams in Malappuram, Idukki, Kannur, Ernakulam and other districts as well, added Anithakumari.

Meanwhile, there was a report in The Telegraph, which read, “Women in sport play through harsher pain thresholds than men and pick up the same injuries, but struggle through.’’

So, there is the point. Are we indeed rewarding our women footballers for the pain they suffer? Not really.

The simplest of examples is that despite women football gaining popularity in the state it is yet to be made part of the school games. Just hope that the authorities are listening.