Tirur Village

On Saturday afternoon one of the players from Robin's Chennai Customs team, Arulmani (who speaks a little English), took me to his village. An hour long ride on the packed train further west it was an amazing change from the bustle of the city.

I think I must have been big news out there. By the time we got fully underway there was 16 really small boys (training barefoot) and 14 older boys ready to train. On top of this there were also dozens and dozens of locals who had come to watch my session. I ran two groups simultaneously for the big and little ones and had a lot of fun rushing from group to group trying to keep the drills interesting and challenging. There was some translation but getting my point across was still something of a challenge. At the end of the session everyone wanted to say thank you and shake my hand. At one stage rather than waiting their turn upwards of 10 small boys were shaking my hand simultaneously which was quite an experience. The adults in particular were very grateful for my visit and keep pressuring me to say I'd come back. They even gave me a gift, though I'm struggling to work out what is the appropriate thing to do with my newly acquired 'Mary and Child'.

I was disappointed that for various reasons I was unable to share more of why I was in India but still I was able to give out Eagles Sports Foundation stickers that included a Bible verse and contact details for the ministry.

After the session things got even more crazy as all the small children followed me back through the village to Arumani's house. There I posed for many, many photos with his family, neighbours, random local kids, local footballers and a whole range of those groups. Then food and drink was brought for me and everyone just sat around and watched me consume it. It was all a lot of fun but rather surreal.

When it was time to go I hopped back on the train to Villivakkam. I think late at night how full a train is is a matter of luck and I was very unlucky. We had to physically push ourselves into the carriage yet at every stop more people somehow managed to fit in. There was no way to even get near the seats let alone use one. By the time I got home I was absolutely exhausted but really excited by my adventure.