S Nandhakumar woke up to the sight of boys and girls playing football at Kalyanapuram ground in Vyasarpadi every day. He saw them on his way to school, and on his way back.
“My father, who was then an auto driver, took me to the ground one morning,” says the 27-year-old, who just returned to Chennai after winning the Intercontinental Cup as part of the Indian team. He was the only player from Tamil Nadu at the tournament held at Bhubaneswar last month among India, Lebanon, Vanuatu, and Mongolia.
The Slum Children Sports Talent and Education Development Society’s team (SCSTEDS) practised at the Kalyanapuram ground every day, led by coaches N Umapathy, who used to be the goalkeeper for the Tamil Nadu team, and N Thangaraj. They took the 10-year-old into their fold. “Every kid in Vyasarpadi was playing football then,” says Nandhakumar, adding that they still do. He remembers nothing extraordinary about his game as a school boy, when he played for the SCSTEDS’ club regularly.
