Anand Prasad Gope could not make it to the Indian Football team. However, for the love of the game, he now assists others to score the goals.
The 30-year-old from Karma, a village in Jharkhand’s Ormanjhi area, is now providing free football coaching to approximately 300 young people, most of whom are girls.
“Jharkhand has seen about 25 students compete in various national tournaments. To represent India in the under-17 team, eight traveled to England and six to Denmark,” Gope says to TNIE.
Soni Munda and Anita Kumari, two of his students, have been chosen to join the 2022 FIFA World Cup training camp.
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Gope started giving free coaching to 15 girls in 2013. Now, he trains nearly 300 youngsters; 250 of them are girls. All these girls are between eight to 18 years old and had never heard about football before.
Due to their poor financial condition, their families married them off in their childhood to grooms from other states like Rajasthan and Haryana.
Gope had previously participated in football at the district and Ranchi league levels.
Gope, who grew up in an impoverished home, sacrificed his ambitions to take care of his family. To effect change, he began by speaking with the girls’ parents to influence their attitudes. He had to persuade them to let their daughters play football for over six months.
The villagers made snarky remarks at first because the girls were playing football and wearing shorts. However, the girls got accustomed to it over time and started focussing more on their game.
Many of the girls didn’t go to school, so he registered them in nearby schools, and they began attending lessons regularly.
People have donated some money to Gope’s effort on goodwill, which he has been using to purchase sports equipment for his trainees, such as football kits, jerseys, and boots. The majority of kids, however, play barefoot or in regular shoes, he said.
He’s also put up a team of youthful coaches to assist him in training the younger players.
“I train senior girls in the mornings, and they assist me to train junior pupils in the evenings,” Gope says, requesting that the state government establish a residential training center in Ranchi.
Gope also claims that his sports effort has aided in reducing the number of underage marriages in the region. He saved one of his students from being married off at 12 just for Rs. 25,000. Later, that girl was selected for the Jharkhand Under-14 team and attended India Camp in Gujarat to represent India in Tajikistan.