Contact is taking a holiday!

Tomer Woelz and Paul Dascalu had nearly finished teaching their session on ‘Laws of the Game’, but the questions jkept coming from all angles.

‘Is it possible to score directly from the kickoff?’

‘No, a kickoff is considered indirect, and the ball must touch two players before going in the goal.’

‘Should football matches continue during a storm?’

‘Rain, yes.  Lightning, no.’

‘If a player is angry and intentionally kicks the ball in the wrong net, does the goal count?  Does using foul language merit a yellow card?  Suppose a spectator comes onto the field and starts a fight.  Should the player be penalized for fighting back?’

‘Emphasize teamwork, fair play, and respect to all the girls on your football team, and good things will come.  If someone from the crowd wants to attack teenage girls, we have much bigger problems than what the rules say.’

These questions  and more  were eagerly posed by the physical education teachers of nine Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) schools across India, who spent November 21-26 at TCV Upper Dharamsala for a workshop aimed at establishing an organized football programme for Tibetan women and girls.  Needless to say, the participants themselves showed exemplary sportsmanship and kindness for the duration of their visit, as well as an affinity for the sport.

Cassie Childers, a women’s football player from the United States and longtime supporter of the Tibetan cause, planned and sponsored the workshop, which was organized in conjunction with Kalsang Dhondup, General Secretary of the Tibetan National Sports Association.  With her husband, Tomer Woelz, and Paul Dascalu (a former professional footballer in Romania) taking the reins in training and tactical sessions, Childers was free to drive the workshop in a holistic direction – one that addressed needs far more critical than skills such as dribbling and shooting.

‘It’s important to remember that our ultimate purpose has nothing to do with football,’ she said. 

‘The idea is to use football as a tool to empower Tibetan women and show them they can do anything that a man can do.’

To that end, Childers complimented her own football knowledge by assembling a team of experts.  A sports psychologist conducted classes on the best way for male coaches to address the unique mental and emotional needs of female athletes. A pair of sports physiotherapists led the coaches in yoga before each morning’s training and explained how girls’ physical and nutritional demands differ from boys’.  Guest of honour, Manjushree Roy, herself a sports administrator and a vital voice of support from within the Indian government, offered a sweeping long-term vision of the importance of women’s athletics and the potential for sport to inspire and unite people.

The coaches, hailing from as far away as Ladakh in the north and Bylakuppe in the south, were enthusiastic from start to finish.  The workshops typically kept them busy from 7 o’clock each morning until well into the evening.  ‘What a great bunch of characters, with great energy,’ Woelz noted.  ‘They came from so many different parts of India but found one common purpose: to soak up all the knowledge they could in hopes of being not only good football coaches, but also a resource to improve the lives of Tibetan girls.’

The Tibetan Men’s Football Team first played an exhibition match in 1998 and has since toured a number of European nations.  Childers and her team believe in building passion for women’s football at a grassroots level.  Already, she’s set to spend January in Gopalpur with three girls from each TCV school.  They’ll receive intensive skills training along with focused lessons on leadership and nutrition.  With any luck, the Tibetan girls who join football clubs at their respective TCV schools next academic year will take up the challenge from their coaches and form the backbone of a Tibetan Women’s Football Team that will one day compete internationally.

European football fans may be known for their rowdiness and hooliganism at times, but to answer the eager young coach’s question, it’s pretty unlikely a fan will leave the stands to attack a player.  In fact, if there is any negativity at all from the crowd, it will probably just be whistles of jealousy from the boys, surprised to see their female counterparts excelling at ‘the beautiful game,’ their confident smiles whispering, ‘challenge met.’