In a Jharkhand village, a coach walks on broken glass to produce U17 World Cup players

When the clock strikes 8 pm on Tuesday (October 11), a small village called Karma, close to Ranchi in Jharkhand, will erupt in celebrations. In one particular house, a small crowd will assemble in a room, with their eyes fixed on the television.

As India kick-starts its U-17 World Cup campaign for the first time ever, Anand Gope, one of the residents might even get emotional. These are not any prophecies or predictions thrown randomly at the Muggle world, but are a certainty.

Nine years after Anand, now aged 31 years, introduced football in the tribal villages of Jharkhand, his efforts are reaping results. Two of his trainees – Anita Kumari and Nitu Linda – are part of the India U-17 team selected for the World Cup.

"It is difficult to express my emotions in words. It is a proud moment for me and the people of our villages. I am eagerly waiting to see them play the World Cup," Gope tells The Bridge over telephone from his village.

Gope had first met Anita and Nitu in 2013, when he and his friend had introduced football to young girls in neighbouring villages. The intention was not to produce professional footballers, but to encourage young girls from the tribal communities to step out of their houses and explore the world.

"Child marriage was rampant in my area. I was witness to young girls getting married at 13 or 14 years and then becoming mothers before they turned 18 years. In fact, I also saw some of them dying at a young age due to medical pregnancy-related complications. I couldn't withstand this and wanted to change it,' he says.

Having played football as a child with his friends as a recreational activity, Gope decided it was the only option he had to encourage the girls to step out.

On October 2, 2013, he went to a government school close to his village with a football and asked the girls to join him. Around 15 girls turned up, and he requested them to come for training every day after school. The training stopped after a week.

'Ladke ho kya. Shorts pehenke football khel rahe ho. (Are you a boy? You are wearing shorts to play football,') was the retort by the parents of the girls.

"It took us six months to convince the parents. A few agreed, others didn't. But I persisted. Eventually, we had some of them return to the fields," says Gope.

But the challenge didn't stop there. Even though a handful of parents had agreed, the villagers disliked the idea of young girls playing a 'male physical' sport. So, they did everything to prevent the training.

"They would throw broken glasses on the field. Sometimes, they would intentionally occupy our training spot. But we played wherever we found a space and didn't let these things demotivate us."

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Gope, who had already taken professional coaching training by now, marked some girls doing extremely well. He then started looking for district level competitions where he could register them. By 2014, some of the girls made it to the district level competitions and in 2015, two trainees – Anshu Kashyap and Sheetal Toppo made it to the national level.

"That was the turning point. When the parents of these young girls won a trophy or got selected, they started reaching out to me to train their daughters too," Gope says.

Today, there are over 250 trainees under Gope, out of which at least 20 have played at the national level. Anita and Nitu, of course, have gone a notch higher to play the World Cup.

"We sort the trainees into age-groups during the practice sessions. Anita and Nitu were young and used to play in the U-10 group. They were so good that within a few weeks, they started playing with the players double their age. They are natural talents," Gope recollects the initial meeting with the two talents.

As his trainees take on the big stage, Gope is still battling with challenges. With no resources, he is struggling to train the girls. Initially, he had a day job as a data entry operator, which took care of some of the costs. But as the number of trainees grew, he found it difficult to manage both and eventually quit his job in 2018.

"There is no support from anywhere. So far, I managed with whatever I had and donations from my acquaintances. But it is getting difficult by the day. I have requested help from several quarters but have not received any response yet. My family is also now asking me to think about my future," he says.

But, does he regret quitting his job to encourage young girls to play a sport?

"Not at all. I have seen their life change. I know what difference football has made. So, I am trying my best to continue with my efforts. The only regret is not being able to watch Anita and Nitu play live at the World Cup. I wish I could watch them from the stadium. But again, I don't have the required….," he breaks off mid-way, not to end the conversation on a sad note.