PANAJI: The desire of playing the beautiful game – football, once again after the routine was halted by the pandemic; is the essence of ‘Goal Goa’.
On the verge of the premiere, ‘Goal Goa’ is a feature film set in Goa putting the spotlight on the strong connection of the State with the Sport in the background of a vaccination drive taking place on football ground (Candolim) which happens to be one of the most popular football grounds in Goa.
Livenewsgoa.com caught up with Lisa Heydlauff, CEO of ‘Going to School’ – a creative not-for-profit education trust, to know more about their project. Here is the full interview.
LNG: What’s the essence of ‘Goal Goa’?
LISA: That perhaps the great game can get us out of this. We all want to go back outside and play football or watch football. To do that, we need to take the shot. So perhaps the great game is reason enough to overcome our fears, so we can all go back outside and play football together.
LNG: How do you interpret the rebooting process with respect to passion for football as we emerge from the Covid era?
LISA: Over 10 million adolescent girls across India have dropped out of school and are probably not coming back to school, brick and mortar style, e-learning hasn’t been successful for many now sadly proven reasons. What is proven is that girls learn skills through team sports, especially football.
Playing football outside enables girls to get back into a learning environment where together, they can learn skills that equip them to take on the next challenge: Climate Change. Football, outdoors, is Covid-19 safe; it’s not affected by schools opening or closing and can continue, enabling girls to learn both football and skills ‘at school’.
LNG: What was the inspiration behind the ‘Goal Goa’ project?
LISA: A football pitch in downtown Candolim, was used for a vaccination drive. It was wildly popular, with over 45,000 vaccinations happening on the pitch. People felt safe going there, they knew where it was, it was outdoors and they got to walk onto the pitch, which gave us the idea that perhaps football was one way out of this, an inspiration to take the shot so we can get back out there.
LNG: What are some of the key eye-openers from the journey?
LISA: Shrinivas Dempo believes football should start as young as possible, and at school, for both girls and boys; that there are models for football skills at school we can be inspired by for Goa, Japan, Germany; that it should be both football and entrepreneurial skills to become problem-solving entrepreneurs.
Remy Fernandes says it’s about revitalising the grassroots, from panchayat grounds, to SHG grounds, harvested paddy fields to the beach. It’s about inspiring football everywhere, talking to parents to girls and boys can come out and play, and figuring out how to coach, train, for excellence where children are.
LNG: What will your forthcoming projects focus on?
LISA: Football skills at school across Goa for children age 6 to 17, girls and boys, in all schools, with a race to see if we can get a team of girls to qualify for the World Cup.
