This November, our DeafKidz Goal! project held a tournament for deaf and hearing children in Nagpur, India. Over 60 children from 4 schools attended the event, hosted by our partners Slum Soccer.
We left the soaring concrete overpasses of Nagpur city behind, heading north on the highway. Turning off, we delved into the settlement of Bhokara – a scattering of homesteads and small roadside shops among lush trees and grasslands. There, we arrived at Slum Soccer’s campus: a site of ten or more acres with offices, football pitches, and community buildings, set among groves of orange trees.
Slum Soccer’s main football pitch is astroturfed and covered with netting – large enough to accommodate two five or seven-aside games simultaneously. There, in the warm company of Devang, Shivani, Shiba and Ahsan – the Slum Soccer staff – we waited for the participants.
The day’s event was not only the culmination of DKI and Slum Soccer’s work over the past year, but an example of the personal transformations that the DeafKidz Goal! project can create. After all, the day’s activities were not to be managed by Slum Soccer or DKI staff, but by the DeafKidz Goal! Fellows – participants from the first-ever programme cohort, who are now its trainers.
These Fellows first encountered DeafKidz Goal! in 2019, back when they were teenagers. Many hadn’t played football before – or any kind of team sport. Over the following years, the programme fostered their confidence, leadership, and interpersonal skills through the power of play. Now in their early twenties, they were the ones leading the sessions.
After some minor trouble with the buses, the kids arrived, each wearing the unique colours of their school. In total, around sixty kids from three deaf schools and one hearing school participated. The first order of business was a processional entrance: the Fellows made a human archway, as the kids walked in two-by-two to the waving of signed applause. Then the games began.
In total, eight separate games were played. In the place of referee whistles, the Fellows used coloured flags to order the play – a similar technique used by professional deaf teams globally. Some teams won, some teams lost – but in the end, the goal wasn’t victory, but togetherness. For the deaf kids, it was a chance to play, to laugh, to shine. To come closer to their peers, both deaf and hearing. For the hearing kids, it was proof that their similarities with deaf people vastly outweigh any differences.
As the games ended and the kids waited for their buses in the westering sun, a few of the younger ones took to the pitch for one last kick-around. They played with carefree joy and natural confidence, organising themselves without any input from staff or Fellows. For them, the main lessons of DeafKidz Goal had been well-learned.
