Namakkal has, over the years, earned a reputation for churning out toppers in the State public exams. But now, a group of fantastic girl footballers are making the district proud.
The football team from the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Namakkal has won the Goethe Super League football tournament for schools, held in Chennai.
Golden opportunity
The 14-member team, along with their coach, will be off to Germany for attending a special football camp for improving their soccer skills. The Goethe-Institut is sponsoring the entire trip.
Prabhakar Narayanan, deputy director, Language Department, Goethe-Institut, said the girls would attend a one-week football youth camp at Schlotheim, located near Berlin, during their 10-day trip.
The Goethe Super League was held for both boys and girls and 64 school teams participated in the boys category and 32 teams participated in the girls category.
In the 4th edition, the Namakkal girls’ team won the cup, beating a team from Chennai.
“As the girls are from economically backward sections of the society, we decided to sponsor their trip to Germany to encourage them,” he said.
S. Gokila, football coach, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, Namakkal district, said she had been training the girls for over four years.
Bright future
Two girls in the team — B. Mariyammal and S. Kowsalya — represent the under-18 India team and have a bright future ahead, she added.
“It will be the first time that I will be flying in an aeroplane, that too to a foreign country,” said V. Pooja, a team member.
Published - February 08, 2019 01:01 am IST
