“We never stop running cuz we’re pitch PERFECT… We are pumped cuz we’re pitch PERFECT!”
– SAISA Gecko Cheer 2019
The OSC girls’ football team travelled to Bombay this year for the SAISA tournament held on the first week of April 2019. They went as a very new team and emerged fourth in the tournament.
Let me tell you a story…
When I first joined OSC, I had always wanted to try out playing soccer. Not just because it sounded cool but because, in my previous school, only guys were allowed to play it. A part of me just wanted to scream and prove that girls can do it just as well, if not better. When I tried out for the soccer team, I realized how physically demanding it was and realized I was actually terrible at it. I couldn’t kick the ball straight, nor could I control it, heck, I couldn’t even run a 200m without panting and tiring out. Sri Lanka has always been hot but over the past three years, it has gotten much worse. So, having practice on the weekends at 12 pm seemed pretty absurd to me and honestly, it still does. But after much training and practice, I made it to the team but I was still pretty bad and constantly felt like I was bringing my team down, even in SAISA two years ago. I didn’t play much, I was more like a reserve and by the end of the tournament, we came 6th out of 8 teams and I felt like I didn’t learn or contribute to anything.
The year after that, which was last year, I didn’t want to try out for football; it just wasn’t the sport for me. It was cowardly, yes, but I made up excuses, missed practice, and didn’t sign up for selections. When my teammates asked why, I said I had financial and domestic issues that needed to be sorted and it wasn’t completely false either but it was mainly because I just didn’t think I was good enough. Around this time, I still went for practice sometimes for fitness sake and I realized that I just wasn’t a team player. Badminton was an individual sport and yes, you play with a partner but that’s about it. You don’t rely on 10 people to play on the court but on the pitch, it’s the complete opposite. On one practice, a player got badly injured, she dislocated her knee, and I blamed myself for it, even though I knew it wasn’t my fault, I was just close-by when it happened, but I felt responsible and I realized, deep down, that this was the excuse I needed to completely stop playing and so I stopped going for practice. Again, I know, it was cowardly and pathetic but I was just willing to use anything to get out of playing back then.
This year, I planned to not join football and didn’t bother signing up until last minute when a friend of mine, my co-service leader Disara, urged me and basically forced me to join. “Do it for the fitness”, she said, “Trust me, you’ll have so much fun this year.” Reluctantly, I joined practice and since we had new coaches, I explained to them that I had no intention of joining the team but was willing to come for practice. They were so chilled out about the entire thing and supported my decision, which surprised me immensely (I thought they’d be annoyed).
It was hotter than ever but practice this year was unlike no other. Our coaches made every session so much fun and they always helped and cheered me on. No player was allowed to apologize on the pitch or else we had to do five push-ups as a consequence! In all our sessions, I found myself laughing, not just with my team but with my coaches as well. It was during these practice sessions that I blew off steam and forgot about everything else. Since most of our previous team graduated/left, we had a very new, young team and every single player connected with me. At first, I stuck to myself, but they all forcefully entered me into their conversations, made me feel included and I could tell they were genuine about it because even during school time, they’d stop and talk to me in the corridors. I know I sound like an introverted kid but in reality, I was simply trying to find an excuse to dislike this team and not play. And I don’t know when it stopped but at one point, I just gave in: I gave in to loving this team, to loving my coaches and to loving this sport.
And it was one of the better decisions I’ve made in my life.
It was then that I got to know about an issue our team was facing: we didn’t have enough players who were willing to travel. After much contemplation and a lot more coercion, my teammates managed to convince me to play this year for SAISA and I surprised myself by doing so.
We played a few practices matches against other schools and I had to play quite a lot in all those games. It was during our first match that I faced the biggest challenge of this season: I have always been a defense player but my coach wanted me to play right wing! Given how I had never in the past even tried out for this position, I didn’t know what to do. I made many mistakes and felt useless once again but my coach encouraged me by reminding me how I had never played this position before and how I did exactly as he told me. Ever since, my coach made me play mid-field during practice: he trained me for this position because he thought I could do it better than defense. It was a step outside my comfort zone of being in the defense and it was even more physically demanding because I had so much more running to do. Many times I thought that my coach was making a big mistake but he never stopped encouraging me and Disara and the rest of the mid-fielders were always helping me out and unintentionally, I got used to this position.
Playing football in a badminton shirt…just Rashmi things.
In our next match I scored my first ever goal. Trust me, nobody was more surprised than I was. I didn’t think I did anything special but apparently, I was right where I needed to be and was doing exactly as I was expected so I deserved that goal, or so my coach said. And that was that. I was officially a winger. As we approached SAISA, a new challenge was presented to me: our coach decided to try out a new formation called the diamond mid-field formation which required the wingers to act as both strikers and defenders, meaning that we had much more running to do. In fact, it was Disara and I that had the most amount of running this entire season. As it was, I was struggling to survive a full game of running back and forth between strikers and mid-field but now I had to run the entire length of the field. If anything, football was going to be the death of me. For some reason, my coach was under the impression that I could handle it. Either he was blind or simply thought too highly of me because, hell, I was struggling.
Games against CIS and Moir in OSC pitch.
When SAISA came around, my biggest fear was letting my team down but not once did they make me feel like I was capable of doing anything to disappoint them. The same goes for my coaches. Mr. O always said, “the only thing that could disappoint me is if your attitude changes. No mistake you make could ever disappoint me.” I lived by that policy. No matter what happened on the pitch, even if we were one-nil up or one-nil down, my attitude had to stay constant. And I apply that to everything in my life, even today as I write this.
Game against AISD in Bombay.
It was in SAISA that I played my absolute best: I was on the field every single game for the most part. I was substituted once or twice but only for short periods of time before I was put back in the game.
Pitch in Bombay PC: AISC
I played so much good football and I really impressed myself.
We made it to the semi-finals and played off for 3rd/4th but we lost at penalties. In all our games, whether we won or lost, the score was always around one-nil and it was our best performance yet. Even against the champion team, we only conceded a goal to them in the second over-time and overall, we scored about 23 goals this season! I played and played and was drained everyday for three days straight but I gave it my everything. I have never cried over football but this year I did because in the 3rd/4th penalties, I couldn’t score a goal and felt responsible for the loss but my coach and my team, not once did they make me feel that way, which made me cry all the more.
I realize now that, heck, I love football and I am so glad that I did it. Eventually, it was a roller coaster ride, just like many other things in life, but I was able to end it on such a good note. I really am grateful for all those who forced me to sign up, supported me and were constantly there for me this season and well, yeah, I love you guys immensely! I won’t be playing football SAISA next year but will definitely go for practice from time to time and I can’t wait to see what this team has to offer for the future!
