Football Taught Me Patience, Resilience, Collaboration And Discipline: Leaha Poonawala
Leaha Poonawala can’t remember a time when she did not play football. “It’s been like a best friend since childhood. I would often be the only girl on the field at 7 am three times a week,” she says. The 25-year-old footballer says she is lucky that her parents supported her passion for the game. “I know so many players who are hounded by their parents until they drop the game. I don’t get it!”
In a chat with SheThePeople, Poonawala discusses how sport complements studies in the development of a child and is equally important. “Why do Indian parents have this either/or mentality? First do well in studies, then think about sport,” is what most parents say. Why? Sport actually teaches us as much as any other subject does,” she says.
What role has football played in your development as a person?
Football has given me confidence, it’s made me strong physically and mentally, it’s taught me patience, resilience, collaboration, discipline, it’s sharpened my social skills, …. Books can’t teach you this stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I study and do well in academics, But I feel that’s only half the education a student needs. Sports is the other half.
What do you love about football?
I feel like a different person when I am on the field. Full of confidence. I love the competitiveness. I also love that when you’re on the pitch, you leave behind all your differences. It doesn’t matter which community, race, colour or religion you belong to… you play as one team. There is no back story.
Guys, I am thinking to write a book / e-book (self published probably) on Indian football as I believe many things still need to be spoken. I have gone through Boria Majumder, Novy Kapadia's work and many other still feel someone needs to speak purely from a fans perspective. Hope being a ladhkhor bong I will be able to do that (and work). I would like to use few article earlier published in IFN with due credit and mention. I don't want to make it a boring history book (Sapiens is an exception) but an engaging conversation with fans and fellow followers that anyone can relate. So I would like to send a set of question to interested people to do the survey part. Once my set of question is ready either I will ask for your mail id or send a link with a google doc. Please give me some idea, area you fill needs to be addressed. I will mention and give due credit.
There is still a dearth of quality books on Indian football (barring of course the authors that you mention) and nothing could please us better than a book written by a fellow IFN member addressing these issues. Please feel free to draw upon any of my translated articles--on Krishanu Dey, Amal Dutta, seventies Maidan football, of course, if you find it necessary for your book. Being a veteran IFN member, you are of course aware of the many articles published in the blog (as you have yourself said) which could contribute immensely to your work. Of late, @mohammed_87hassan has almost single-handedly kept the blog alive with many penetrating analysis on our current football scenario.
I do not have a profound knowledge of Indian football like many of our members but as a die-hard Indian football fan am willing to help you in any way that you might find appropriate.
Most probably it was you @thebeautifulgame who were translating Moti Nandy's work, particularly "Dalbadaler age", right? That was just awesome or more than awesome. I left IFN at that point of time (never left actually, I always visited as howdy stranger), so exactly I am unable to remember. See, each one IFN members are having profound knowledge and I would love to collaborate. Once things move, I will share my contact details that I can closely work with all of you. Just push me a bit that this idea does not become a wishful thinking and see daylight within August 2021.
Yes, @dhritiman7, you are absolutely right. I started translating Moti Nandi's "Dalbalder Age" (The Transfer Saga) but could not complete it. About one-third of the story is yet to be translated. I tried reviving it in 2019 but the illness and the passing away of my father and certain exigencies related to my professional sphere prevented me from finishing it. You were the one, I remember, who provided the backstory of this work--Sudip Chatterjee and his wife--from an old Bengali sports magazine.
It was the first time I had ever tried translation and it was one of the most fulfilling times I have spent at IFN, what with the feedback and appreciation I got from the members. Later on, many members have urged me, particularly @Deb_Ban, into completing the story, but unfortunately it is is still lying unfinished. I guess that there is a 'ladkhor bong' (as you pertinently put it) in all of us. But I have promised here that I will end the translation and I will do so, no matter how long it takes me to do the job.
Comments
referring namewtheld post in twitter.
I don't have twitter account till today. Feeling like having one after going through namewtheld posts in twitter..
Football Taught Me Patience, Resilience, Collaboration And Discipline: Leaha Poonawala
Leaha Poonawala can’t remember a time when she did not play football. “It’s been like a best friend since childhood. I would often be the only girl on the field at 7 am three times a week,” she says. The 25-year-old footballer says she is lucky that her parents supported her passion for the game. “I know so many players who are hounded by their parents until they drop the game. I don’t get it!”
In a chat with SheThePeople, Poonawala discusses how sport complements studies in the development of a child and is equally important. “Why do Indian parents have this either/or mentality? First do well in studies, then think about sport,” is what most parents say. Why? Sport actually teaches us as much as any other subject does,” she says.
What role has football played in your development as a person?
Football has given me confidence, it’s made me strong physically and mentally, it’s taught me patience, resilience, collaboration, discipline, it’s sharpened my social skills, …. Books can’t teach you this stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I study and do well in academics, But I feel that’s only half the education a student needs. Sports is the other half.
What do you love about football?
I feel like a different person when I am on the field. Full of confidence. I love the competitiveness. I also love that when you’re on the pitch, you leave behind all your differences. It doesn’t matter which community, race, colour or religion you belong to… you play as one team. There is no back story.
https://www.shethepeople.tv/shesport/leaha-poonawala-football-india-womens-day-2021/
Very interesting!
I don't want to make it a boring history book (Sapiens is an exception) but an engaging conversation with fans and fellow followers that anyone can relate. So I would like to send a set of question to interested people to do the survey part. Once my set of question is ready either I will ask for your mail id or send a link with a google doc.
Please give me some idea, area you fill needs to be addressed. I will mention and give due credit.
There is still a dearth of quality books on Indian football (barring of course the authors that you mention) and nothing could please us better than a book written by a fellow IFN member addressing these issues. Please feel free to draw upon any of my translated articles--on Krishanu Dey, Amal Dutta, seventies Maidan football, of course, if you find it necessary for your book. Being a veteran IFN member, you are of course aware of the many articles published in the blog (as you have yourself said) which could contribute immensely to your work. Of late, @mohammed_87hassan has almost single-handedly kept the blog alive with many penetrating analysis on our current football scenario.
One of the articles which has gained a lot of traction in the blog recently is our former member @sanket/shanks's idea "on how AIFF can construct a structure for Indian Football from the top division to the State Leagues." You might find it relevant to your work.
http://www.indianfootballnetwork.com/blog/2019/02/20/fan-opinion-how-aiff-can-give-the-league-system-a-structure/
I do not have a profound knowledge of Indian football like many of our members but as a die-hard Indian football fan am willing to help you in any way that you might find appropriate.
Best wishes and happy writing!
See, each one IFN members are having profound knowledge and I would love to collaborate. Once things move, I will share my contact details that I can closely work with all of you.
Just push me a bit that this idea does not become a wishful thinking and see daylight within August 2021.
It was the first time I had ever tried translation and it was one of the most fulfilling times I have spent at IFN, what with the feedback and appreciation I got from the members. Later on, many members have urged me, particularly @Deb_Ban, into completing the story, but unfortunately it is is still lying unfinished. I guess that there is a 'ladkhor bong' (as you pertinently put it) in all of us. But I have promised here that I will end the translation and I will do so, no matter how long it takes me to do the job.