Young football coach helps girls kick their way to empowerment

In the patriarchal villages in Ranchi district of Jharkhand, girls are forced into marriage when they are 15 or sometimes even at a younger age. In Hutup, friends and relatives of Muskan Kumari’s age were already married. The same was expected of her.

“My family also forced me to get married when I was in class VIII,” she recalled.

Though she managed to resist then, the pressure was always there. 

Then Muskan Kumari joined an organisation named Yuwa in 2013 where girls learnt to play football. About 600 girls like Kumari learn football at Yuwa, which transforms their lives. 

Hurdles along the way

“When I went to the football field for the first time, a villager threw a stone at me. They did that to stop me from playing football,” she said. “In our society, everyone thinks that football is a sport for boys.”

But she did not give up and continued to play. Still, the road was not smooth. Her family was also against her playing football. When she started going to play football every day, her family tried to stop her. 

“I still remember one day when my grandma locked me up in a room. I was very scared and was crying the whole day,” said Kumari. “My grandma opened the room only at night after a very long time.”

Just like the other families in her village, Kumari’s family also wanted her to get married when she was 15.

“When I refused again, they told me to leave,” she recalled. 

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Kumari called some of the Yuwa staff and requested them to make her family understand what she wanted in life. When her family said they would give her one chance to prove herself, Kumari’s eyes filled with tears. She resolved to follow her passion and prove herself. 

While she continued playing football, she joined Yuwa School in 2015. She got to know the importance of education in life and learned English too.

Persistence pays

The very next year Muskan Kumari was selected for Domestic Cup Football in Spain. It was her first trip abroad. In fact, it was the first time she was going out of her village. She had not even heard the name Spain before. She had never imagined going to another country to play football. 

With a sparkling light of hope in her eyes she said, “In Spain, I saw women playing football, driving a car, being independent and living their own life. After returning I started thinking about how I could develop my village through football.” 

With that thought in mind, she gathered a few young girls to teach them football. It took her about three weeks to bring together 20 children. However, the families were not ready to allow these children to play football. 

“After a week the children stopped coming. So my friends and I went to each house, but the families were not convinced,” she recalled. 

Then she came up with the idea of taking her mother along. Soon the families began to understand and sent their children to play football. 

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Rising above the ranks

Gradually, they started having workshops on mensuration, hygiene, domestic violence and so on. Working on all these things, Kumari got selected as a coach for young kids and started earning her salary. She pays her school fees from her salary and she gives the balance amount to her family. 

Because of her hard work and dedication, she was promoted to the rank of coordinator. As a coordinator, she supervises 35 Yuwa coaches. 

“I’m the only woman among the coaches. I help them develop better training plans. And through my play and work I’ve inspired other girls to stand up for themselves and ask for their rights,” she said very proudly. 

With the help of Yuwa, she has started a project to reduce gender inequality between boys and girls. And she aims to do more as she said, “I’ve brought significant change in the life of Yuwa girls. Now I want to bring about a positive change for the girls in my village too.”

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The lead image shows football coach Muskan Kumari with the young children she coaches. (Photo courtesy Muskan Kumari)

Aanchal Joshi is a student from Nanakmatta, Uttarakhand.