When 21-year-old Aparna E., a resident of Malappuram, first joined the selection camp for Indian women’s blind football team as a goalkeeper in Kochi in June, she had great difficulty communicating with her fellow players.
She had little proficiency in Hindi, the only language in which the rest of the 24 players in the camp conversed. The goalkeeper being the sole player with sight allowed on the field in blind football, she was supposed to organise her defenders by shouting out directions. It proved a big problem for Ms. Aparna, the only Malayali player in the Indian women’s blind football team to participate in the IBSA World Games, which is to get under way in Birmingham in the U.K. later this month.
But since then she has learnt a smattering of Hindi words adequate enough to see her though in the field. “Bhaag [run], chalo [keep going], daaye [right], and baaye [left] are the most common words used to keep the defenders on their toes. Now I have developed good rapport with our players,” she said.
Playing the game for a decade, Ms. Aparna had dreamt of donning the Indian colours, but never imagined it would ever come true. During that period, she had played for two teams in Kerala Women’s League and represented the senior district teams of Malappuram and Wayanad.
“A word from one of my friends about the blind football zonal championships proved a turning point. I represented the south zone and was selected for the nationals and was eventually among the 10 players selected to represent India,” said Ms. Aparna. The only other goalkeeper in the Indian squad is from Madhya Pradesh.
Blind football was more challenging since the game required the goalkeeper to serve as the eyes of the team, said Ms. Aparna. Besides, there is only a two-metre-wide box for the goalkeeper to manoeuvre, stepping outside of which would gift the opposition team with a penalty.
