MARGAO: Canadians of Indian origin have made their mark on that country’s hockey landscape and perhaps in a few years they could be making a positive mark on that country’s football fortunes. Jasmine Mander, the Assistant coach of the U-15 team and performance analyst of the Canadian team at the U-17 FIFA World Cup for women, believes in time there will be players from that community.
Speaking after Canada’s match against France she said, “There is a lot of talent in the system in the Indo-Canadian community. We have players playing professionally, in the NCAA and they are coming through and it is good to see. Our parents immigrated to Canada and they loved soccer and we picked it up. My parents immigrated to Canada in the 80’s and it takes time to get that talent into the system. Girls get an opportunity to showcase their talent. There are massive summer tournaments and it is very common practice for girls to be playing soccer.”
When asked if there was any player, she felt would make it to the national team from amongst the wards she was training now, she said it was too early to name anyone since they were all so young. She expressed her happiness at being back in India saying she had made her first visit to India with her parents when she was four. Jasmine said, “To see the girls get this opportunity is special and a big step for the country and it would be good to see the talent coming through. It is important to celebrate women in sport.”
Asked about the Indian team participating in the World Cup she said it was important to get behind that team and support them. They were very excited to play and the future would be great if the infrastructure and finance was behind them. It would be great if they knew the people were behind them. She said, “They had a tough game against the USA but that team has been together, that system is so strong and it is a World Cup winning championship team. Don’t worry too much about the result and just enjoy being part of the World Cup.”
