My name is Nathania, I am 12 years old and I am a crazy football fan and aspire to be a professional player one day. I started playing football at the age of 3 just by kicking a ball around on the lawn outside my house. I then started to play with my brother and father at home and eventually with friends at school. One thing led to another and I soon discovered a huge amount of love for the sport.
I started taking my passion seriously when I was 8. Those summer holidays, just before starting my 5th standard, I went for a football camp that was being held near my home in Kotagiri (a small town near Ooty, in Tamil Nadu). I thoroughly enjoyed those two weeks and could feel that I was improving my game. Soon, I started following football seriously by watching lots of matches and looking at different statistics about matches. That was when I found Messi, who is now and always will be my idol. Ever since, I have become a huge fan of both him and FC Barcelona and I now have 20 scrap books filled with his pictures. I enjoy watching late night football matches and discussing stats with my father and friends. I have been inspired by this show on Amazon Prime called Kicks – which is about a girl who plays football and all the difficulties that she faces.
I also have a YouTube channel, where I upload some of my experiences. As I continued to learn proper football skills, I started to follow football to a the highest level of detail and was well versed with most of the football players and their profiles. I was soon selected and started playing for my school girl’s football team. We used to play against other teams around Andhra Pradesh. I played two matches for our school team. In the first game I did not score a goal but then, in the second game, I scored a goal and that inspired me to keep playing further.
Those summer holidays, we came across an advertisement that said Kia Motors were planning on sponsoring 2 Indian Kids to be Official Match Ball Carriers for the 2018 World Cup. So I applied for it – we had to send them a 30 second video of my playing skills. Out of 1600 kids who applied, 50 kids were shortlisted for a trial in Delhi – I was among those 50 kids, the onyl girl. Our then Indian football Captain, Sunil Chhetri came to select the 6 kids – 4 kids would get an opportunity to watch a World Cup match while 2 kids would be Official Match Ball Carriers. We had to dribble through cones, juggle, penalty shootouts and finally, a personal interview. With some hard work and pratice, Kia Motors selected me to as the 1st ever Indian Official Match Ball Carrier. I went to Russia for 4 days and I was the Ball Carrier for the match between Brazil and Costa Rica. I met Neymar and many other famous football players. That experience, apart from the watching the match is a big part of my journey. I’m greatly inspired to become a Professional Woman football player (do watch some clips in the Videos section). I hope to encourage and inspire other girls in India to follow and live their passion.
Initially, I trained with the First Kick Football Sports Academy in Coimbatore. However, I am now training in the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bangalore. Due to the fact that they do not have accommodation yet, I am staying with different families kind enough to open their homes for me. Later, I want to go abroad and get even more intensive training.
My biggest dream is to meet Lionel Messi and play professionally at the Barcelona’s Women’s football academy. My other interests are writing creative stories, reading books, acting and theatre, listening to music, socializing with people of all age groups. I also like to play other sports and watch them.
At the same time I also realized that being a girl and taking to football as a sport, is very difficult in India as opportunities and scholarships exist primarily for boys. Right now, it costs a lot for my parents as one of them has to accompany me whenever I travel for matches and also for my kit and other equipment for training. Thank you for taking the time and patience to read till here. In my journey forward, I would be really grateful if you could spread the word and support me in any way possible so that I can achieve my dream. Do have a look at my Donation page for further details.
