The first time I ever heard of football was when I was six years old. I woke up in the middle of the night and heard a noise from the living room. My dad was watching a football match. I sat with him for 10 minutes and saw a football match for the first time.
Later that year, I went to India to visit my grandparents. My uncle was playing with a football in our yard. He let me play and told my dad that I could kick the ball well. He said that I should play in an academy. But before I started playing in an academy, since my dad was still not too sure of my ability, I went for morning practice in our school with my elder brother. After this, my dad let me sign up for an academy called ‘It’s Just Football’ where I started playing football and learned about it for the first time.
The main reason why I like playing football is because every time I step on the pitch, it makes me forget about everything else that is happening and all I think about is football. There are other reasons too. While watching a match on TV, you can see how everyone loves football so much that even the fans cry when their team loses a game. It is a team sport and it is an amazing experience to play with your friends and have fun.
I have so many role models but someone who has entertained me the most while watching the game is Ronaldinho. His skills and movements with the ball are so fun to watch. Cristiano Ronaldo is another role model; everybody can see that his hard work is what makes him one of the best players in the world.
When I used to play for ‘It’s Just Football’, I got two Best Player and two Top Scorer awards over two years. I played in a tournament with Barça Academy Dubai. We went to Spain and participated in a tournament in which various teams from different countries came to participate. It was a good experience for me. I played a tournament in Abu Dhabi with another team, and we played against Manchester City Abu Dhabi, beating them in the final. There were five tournaments for different age groups. We won the U-12 tournament and because we won, we were put in a draw with the other 4 winners of the other age groups. Luckily, we won the draw as well and got a whole week training in Manchester in London, a completely free trip.
After that when I was 11, I became one of the first expats to get into the Al Nasr Club and was fortunate enough to be registered with the team. I have been playing with them for the past three years. In my first tournament I won the Top Scorer award, and our team won the U-12 League. In the U-13 category, our team came third in an international tournament with teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. That year, we were also placed first in our league but unfortunately Covid hit and we could not finish that year’s league. Last year we did not have any competitions due to Covid but now our league started on 23rd October, 2021.
In the future I want to be a professional football player and hopefully play for the Indian national team. I also want to play football in Europe with major clubs in big leagues. My biggest goal is to play in the Premier League.
I think football is a very fun sport to play. It has the highest global following of 4 billion people. It helps everyone stay fit and healthy and it can help boost self-confidence. Unknowingly, you learn about a lot of different countries around the world. You can talk and communicate with so many new people, making new friends. It also helps improve your work ethic and you become more responsible, having to reach certain places on time and having to wake up really early in the morning to play or train.
– Aydan Nadeer, 9E