E-Paper
A football coach who talks of HIV
A pack of 30 schoolboys have what the best sporting clubs in India do not ? a foreign coach. It only helps that he also teaches them a thing or two about HIV/AIDS, reports Soumyajit Pattnaik.
A pack of 30 schoolboys have what the best sporting clubs in India do not — a foreign coach. It only helps that he also teaches them a thing or two about HIV/AIDS.
So every Sunday, Matthew Pickard, a British national, joins the boys at the Unit VI Athletics Association ground in Bhubaneswar for a quick game. That done, the children troop in for the next class — a session on HIV/AIDS.
Pickard has his hands full with two seemingly unlike jobs. As part of a contract with his club in London, he arrived in Orissa to spread awareness about AIDS and to improve the football skills of local children. "I once happened to watch a school tournament here and volunteered to coach the children. Here, 30 boys share five footballs. In England, two people get to share a ball. The government is not doing its bit for these children — they could do with some resources."
Language is a problem but the coach makes sure he drives home his point. Pickard gets authorities at the club to help him when his Brit accent gets too heavy for the children.
Shakti Prasad Sarangi, a class VIII student, told HT, "Language is not that big a problem. Sir is a good coach and we have learnt a lot from him".
Azharudin Khan, Sarangi’s classmate, said, "We have learnt how to make a wall to defend a free kick, how to take a corner kick, how to finish and how to defend. I also came to know about HIV/AIDS from him".
Pickard’s job involves several district tours to acquaint himself with the magnitude of HIV/AIDS. As he travelled, he discovered that though the disease was spreading fast, there was a lack of awareness and understanding about the virus. "It is horrible that people discriminate against HIV+ patients".
