Being a woman in a predominantly man’s domain is never easy, though things are slowly becoming better and easier with better exposure and support. And yet it will take a long time before we see any kind of true balance between the sexes (I’m referring to equal opportunity rather than equality as many use it). Football is one such area, especially in countries like ours. This makes achievements by Indian female players matters of special pride.
Tanvie Hans, who is currently a player for Fulham Ladies in the United Kingdom, is one fine example. A sporty, naturally athletic girl since she was very young, Tanvie played all the sports she could – first in the park behind her house with her older brother and his friends (mostly boys) and later at school. It took a few years before she saw the boys in her class play football for the first time though. But it clearly made an impact on the 2nd or 3rd grader – “I guess I knew it was my favourite sport from the moment I first kicked a ball.”
Fate works in mysterious ways. Tanvie was a student at Vasant Valley School, the first school in Delhi to start a girls football team. This meant that she was introduced to competitive football at a very young age. A large part of this Vasant Valley team, including Tanvie, formed the first Delhi U14 team in 2004, and though they faced heavy, double-digit losses due to their lack of experience, it opened their eyes to the existence of a higher standard and a larger platform of the beautiful game. Tanvie credits this first experience at the national level as spurring her on to better herself, a path that wasn’t exactly straightforward.
“I just simply tried to play as often as I could … But this was a big struggle due to lack of opportunities, lack of tournaments and as a result of that a lack of ‘real match experience’ as a female player in India.”