SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
ALLAN VALENTINO D'CRUZ
ast weekend, the turf on top witnessed a different vibe! There were young and the old, both men and women decked up in different colours, all gathered for a competitive evening in the game of football, rather a league of their own — the ‘Fam League’.
The teams featured children as young as six to ten years of age — Kushi Mangueshkar (6), Ved (7), Sanaj (8) and Devank (10) to veterans — Damodar Lotlokar (57), Nisha Mangueshkar (50), Sumitra Lotlikar (51) and Sudha Lotlikar (53).
For the court in-charge, it seemed rather like a regular 5v5 football tournament. However, the cheers, the shouts, chants, the joys were different altogether. For Harichandra Lotliker it was even more special. It was for the first time after many years the 62-year-old, a Siridao resident, could get his entire family to get together in a fun mood.
“This is something we all Goans love to see. The united family,” said the senior citizen as he cherished the moment with his big family.
There were battles on the pitch but moreover fun and love was witnessed among the entire lot of 52 members throughout the day.
Little did they know what was started as an effort to keep their health check routine during the COVID-19 pandemic would end up bringing the family more together.
“It all started during the lockdown phase when we were restricted to staying home and there wasn’t much to do. So we all started doing light workouts at home, initially to kill time but later it got interesting as we started to share the workout videos on our WhatsApp family group which kept us motivated and encouraged to give an extra shot every day,” explained Nikesh Mangueshkar, a member of the Siridao based family.
“As we were out of the first lockdown phase we planned a family get together and played traditional games such as Logorio. We also played football, cricket, and did Zumba as well, all as part of fun activity,” explained Nikesh.
However, once the first lockdown was relaxed, the men of the family got together for a short format football competition within the family but it’s interesting to note how they managed to get the women from being spectators to play the sport.
“The ladies enthusiastically came along for every match as a supporting team which made the game more interesting and exciting. Meanwhile we included one female player in our team as we were short of one player and I guess it all clicked there, and we thought of getting the ladies and the kids from the support team to the playing team and they too accepted the offer happily,” stated Mitesh Lotlikar, another member of the family.
Spurred by the success, Mitesh and Nikesh planned this family league where the entire clan of 52 members participated in the one-day football (5v5) event.
From the jersey launch to the trophy unveiling, this family had done it all in the most fun-filled manner using the social media platform. The teams were divided into three — Goal Diggers, Black Aces and Palem Siridao Giants.
“We had mixed teams which included ladies, children and men playing together. This also caught the interest of those who were not a part of the team then and after every match the number of players kept increasing, making our family grow bigger and get closer at home as well as on the ground,” explained Nikesh.
The games not only managed to educate the entire family of the basic rules of the games, but also built an interest in them. “We organised the league in the professional way so that our family could learn more about the game. Earlier they all spoke just about goals, but now they know about the rules and different technical terms too such as man marking, etc,” explained Nikesh.
