BENGALURU: One of the top 10 freestyle footballers in the world, with multiple Guinness World Records to boot, Jamie Knight wasn’t interested in football growing up. Born to a family of swimmers, with his brother being an Irish swimming champion, Knight initially followed a similar path. Hence, unlike many athletes who discover their calling early, Knight developed an interest in the sport relatively late, at the age of 15.
“I was never a footballer, but I used to watch football, and I saw one of the players doing these tricks on the field and I was curious to try. Nothing complicated, just basic tricks, and I liked the feeling of it. A year later, I came across people doing freestyle football tricks for the first time. It kind of switched something on in my head,” says the Irishman who recently paid his first visit to Bengaluru, to conduct a workshop at an international school in the city.
Freestyle football is a performative art that combines football with tricks, dance, acrobatics, and music. Unlike traditional football, it is performed by a solo player/performer either against an opponent or as part of a solo show. As one of the most recognized figures within the sport, Knight relishes the relative lack of constraints that the form offers over traditional football.
“It’s the freedom that you have with it. Football is a team sport and there are teammates, strategies, and things like that you have to worry about. I always like just having the ball to myself. I think it’s also about self-expression as well. I sometimes like to put on some music and practice with the ball for hours,” says the 30-year-old, adding, “I’ve always been a bit of a show-off! (laughs).”
Having been part of the sport for nearly 15 years now, Knight was the official global Mascot for EURO 2020. He also performed on the pitch at back-to-back UEFA Champions League Finals in 2017 and 2018. In recent years, he has been focused on promoting the form, through workshops to schoolchildren both in the United Kingdom, as well as the rest of the world. “I’ve been doing school workshops since 2017. The aim is to package all the skills I know into something that could inspire children,” he explains.
Meanwhile, with the growing interest in professional football in India, Knight predicts that the country will soon be a force to be reckoned with on the global stage. “I think the trend towards football is positive nowadays in India. I used to think cricket was the top game and football was somewhere far behind, but now both these sports are almost neck to neck,” he says adding, “There really is no reason why India cannot become a global player in the sport of football, and maybe even hopefully compete in the Football World Cup soon.”