Coaching the child-centric way
31 year old Geetha Chandra is a football coach with Enabling Leadership in Bengaluru who has been inspiring young girls and boys between the ages 8 and 16 with the belief that nothing is impossible!
Retracing Geetha’s journey with football
Geetha experienced resistance from her family and community from a young age because of her inclination towards sports in general, and football in particular. This was largely due to common misconceptions associated with the unconventionality of football clothing for girls and women.
However, though discouraged, these formative experiences only emboldened her to keep pursuing her dreams.
It made her want to not only question the visible dominance of men in sports, but also change the narrative to include how women play as well as excel at sports.
When Geetha lost her husband very early in their marriage, she found herself bereft with two young children and without any support or means.
Determined to prove her abilities at being able to raise her children single-handedly and be a role model for them, she turned to football as the solution because – as she puts it, “I wanted my own children to be inspired by sports and use it as a vehicle to develop their confidence to take on the challenges in their lives!”
In 2014, a few years prior to joining Enabling Leadership, when Geetha chanced upon an opportunity to not only play football but through it, also impart life-skills to young students, she seized it with both hands.
Geetha cites instances such as these from her own life to remind her students that they get to choose how they would like to overcome their circumstances – both on and beyond the playground!
On coaching students to overcome fear
“Children tend to get scared of anything new. My goal is to build within them the kind of confidence that allows them to overcome their fears”, affirms Geetha as she retells the journey of one of her students, Anitha.
“I have known Anitha ever since she joined the under-10 girls team. Even though, athletically gifted, I had observed that she appeared fearful of something. Initially, she hesitated to open up to me. I realized that I would need to approach her as a friend – not as a coach or a figure of authority.
Gradually, when she trusted me, I learnt that her family did not support her decision to play football. This kept her on the edge, always afraid that she would end up making a mistake or doing something wrong that would further antagonize her family. When I learned this, I sat her down one day and said: “Our aim as a team is not to become the Ronaldos of the world and aspire to become near-perfect sportspersons, but, to take small steps and keep improving the ways in which we play while also enhancing our confidence.”
Today, Anitha in not only a key player but also proudly leads the under-14 girls team.
On modelling team-work and trust
Not only does Geetha encourage her students to overcome their fears, she also nudges them into becoming role models – both at school as well as in their neighbourhoods. One of the ways she does this is through addressing inter-team dynamics.
“Often times I notice that the urge for one-upmanship – ‘I am superior to you’ – gets the better of some of the students resulting in arguments, use of swear words, pushing and even beating each other up. During such moments, I gently call the quarrelling students aside and calmly ask them what the matter is. The students usually respond by blaming each other.
I use these instances to remind them that football is a team game that relies heavily on players being able to trust and support each other; that if anyone on the team thinks that they are excelling at the sport as an individual alone, then football is not for them. I remind them that the chances of a team winning are better when it’s a united effort, not only if one or two of the players excel.”
In this way, not only does Geetha leverage a conflict situation into a live case on understanding leadership skills, but she also offers her students an opportunity to learn and model traits that in turn, can inspire their peers and juniors.
On coping with defeat
Reflecting on her own takeaways from football, Geetha reminisces, “I got hurt many times, but never stepped back. Scoring a goal or even winning a match was secondary to me. What mattered is that I wanted to support my team whichever way I could and I did exactly that!”
She brings these personal lessons when empowering her students to cope with defeat. “I want my students to remember that participation is more important than winning, so I use examples to drive home the point.
I ask them that if while cycling they happen to fall down, will they remain on the ground or will they get back up on their feet – even when they’re hurt? They respond by telling me that they’ll get back up. When I quiz them further on ‘the why’, they say that it’s because they love to cycle.
Taking that discussion further, I remind them that it is not likely for every student to always get good grades in every subject they study in school. But does a ‘low grade’ mean that the student will never attempt that subject again? What can the student do instead? The students say that they will attempt that subject again and prepare more rigorously while aiming to do better on their next attempt.”
Through her child-centric approaches, Geetha elicits responses to challenges from the students themselves, instead of telling them what to do.
More than a coach
Over the years and through her experience of working with children, Geetha finds that she is better able to gauge why a student might be holding back or acting out in a certain way. These reasons could range from tensions within the family to stress regarding an upcoming exam to having been scolded by a teacher in school. In engaging with a student in the capacity of an ally and not just an adult, she finds she is better able to connect with them, and this in turn strengthens their relationship when she assumes the role of a coach on the football pitch.
Reaffirming her belief that every child can be a leader, Geetha says, “When work together, we can achieve anything. This applies to every part of our life – at school, on the playground and even beyond that.”
Photos: Rachit Sai Barak
Filmed by: Rachit Sai Barak
Written by: Elita Almeida
