Chennai will soon host the first-ever street football arena called Kick Off
Playing futsal at the Arena in ECR
Cheer leaders withtheir pom-poms, cameras flashes all around, loud music blaring through speakers, and more — This has become the world of sport as we know it today. But hark back to those good old days when bricks served as goalposts or wickets, a neighbour’s compound your boundary, and the feel of muddy grass on your bare feet — it was all you needed to experience the adrenaline rush of winning a match in your locality! As good as they sound, those experiences are now a rarity.
However, the good news is that namma Chennai is now seeing a comeback by several street sports. ‘Kick Off’, the first-ever street football arena, is one such example. With five people in each team and the ground a one-eighth of a football ground, futsal is now seeing a booming interest. “Tons of teams have registered with us this time. We have more than 16 local teams that have college kids, entrepreneurs, professionals and football enthusiasts pursuing their love for the game and showing off their skills. We have a lot of talent in the city, and such events act as a platform for them to explore it,” explained Rohit Ravindran, who owns the arena. “We used to play matches at the Corporation ground initially, where there would be more than six matches at once. There was no space at all, and finally we took this small place in ECR by the street and started playing on it. Futsal, unlike football, needs more physical restraint as one has to keep sprinting and use lesser space to pass the ball and have a more effective game,” he added.
Well, not just football, skateboarding is also one such street sport that is now catching up. For Bhargav Krishna, an interior designer and ardent skateboarder, “The Marina beach stretch is the only space for skateboarding. We are a bunch of six who are there every Sunday, because there is no space anywhere else in the city. Sometimes, when there is lesser traffic, we practice below the flyovers. One cannot spend loads every week to go to swanky places,” he explained.
His friend Elton Jothi said that Chennai has a lot to learn from cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai. “They have a lot of dedicated spaces for skateboarders and often are seen practicing regularly. We have to go all the way to Mamallapuram for a decent ramp,” he said. ‘Holystoked’, a Bengaluru-based skateboarding company built a ramp at Mamallapuram, where a lot of fishermen’s children come and learn the sport. Somanna, a founder member of the firm explained, “It’s important for everyone to play and be healthy. The street outside your home is the easiest available space. This not only cuts down budgets, but also enables one to learn a sport without shelling out much money.”
Calling for a healthier lifestyle and reclaiming back their space on the streets, a bunch of hockey enthusiasts are also seen playing in public parks. “That’s the only way we can practice. We often transform our streets on Sunday, create our own goalposts and play some serious sport,” informed Vignesh Narayan, a college student and a hockey lover.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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