CHENNAI: On the occasion of Great Goals’ tenth anniversary, co-founders Priya Gopalen and Sandhya Rajan share their experience of working together in equipping young minds to straddle two worlds — of sports and school
As schoolgirls at Church Park, Sacred Heart Matriculation and Higher Secondary School, Priya Gopalen and Sandhya Rajan knew each other as a senior and junior, respectively, and as sports persons. While Priya was on the school’s throwball, handball, and volleyball teams, Sandhya was part of the handball team. Though they were friends, they reconnected much later in 2012 when their sons went to school and football practice together. But in Priya’s words, they became closer as friends after becoming business partners.
But the two mothers were unhappy with the place their children went to practice the game. “We were kind of unhappy with the kind of structure they followed. They would just play without them having to learn the skill to play,” says Sandhya. So, instead of dwelling on the problem, they came up with a solution. “We thought of recreating what we want our children to learn. Both of us were working with children in different ways, and we enjoy that. So, we initially started Great Goals in 2013 as an under-10 programme with 30-40 children,” she adds.
Great Goals is a place for children to explore their physical and mental abilities through sports, offering football and multi-sports training for students between the ages of 4 and 16 years. The company celebrated its tenth anniversary with a carnival last week.
Excerpts follow
How have you influenced your learning in sports at Great Goals?
P: In school, every child, whether they played well or not, took part in sports. And it was an important part of a child’s development. Much of what we have learned in school is what we have tried to include at Great Goals with the intention that sports is for everybody. Everyone had to value sports and we have to value other people’s time, effort, and energy and teach them to balance sports and academics.
What qualities do you think a football player or any sportsperson should have?
P: I think what’s more important to us at Great Goals is that any player who comes to us should be coachable. They should be able to take instructions, process instructions, and make decisions. In that split second, how quickly they take decisions as to what to do next is what we are more interested in working on with our students. Of course, we also work on the player’s technical, physical, social, and psychological requirements. You can be the best sports player but if you are not kind to your teammates, that shows poor character. Lastly, the ability to balance sports and academics. They should not use football practice as an excuse for poor performance in their studies.
What were the challenges you faced initially?
P: In the initial years when we started Great Goals, people had trouble taking us seriously because we were two women in this space and we have no football background. The press earlier used to call us “Soccer Moms” and “Mompreneurs” and at some point, it shifted to a women-run football club. This was a sign of the credibility we have achieved. We have eight centres today.
One of the challenges that we faced in 2013 at the start of Great Goals was finding grounds that were accessible, safe, and of good quality. I think we were lucky to find people who were willing to rent us school grounds and gradually our centres began to expand but it was hard to come by. Now if you need a large ground to play football with high quality, it is indeed hard to come by. Our second challenge in the early years was to find coaches who would coach players who wouldn’t necessarily want to be football players. Even today, it is a challenge.
Now any child who comes to us, amateur or not, will help him/her to get better at sports, no matter what their level. Training our team of coaches was also another challenge we faced. If we want a football coach to be a role model for a child, they must be young and energetic and we have to teach them how to work with children. So, we’ve had school and Montessori teachers come in to work with coaches about how to approach a child and other aspects of teaching a child.
What were your unforgettable moments during these 10 years?
P: I was touched when we had an Alumni Homecoming game on December 20, 2022, which was a kickstart to our upcoming celebrations for completing 10 years of Great Goals. All those who graduated from Great Goals were there and we did not expect a large crowd to attend this event. It was heartwarming when all of them shared how Great Goals was their home, their best friend, and their community and they want to keep coming back here. One of them said “Priya aunty and Sandhya aunty, please don’t stop doing this, we want to play here and please keep calling us back”. That sense of connection and community was so important to us and we felt so happy hearing this from them.
Do you also train underprivileged children?
S: Yes. Any child who wants to play should be given an opportunity. If we know that a child cannot afford to play and wants to play, we will allow them. We have a Great Goals Trust and it has helped in providing scholarships for 80 students. We have three centres in Ranipet where we are training village girls, which is completely free. As the numbers have grown through the years, Great Goals Trust supports players in their travel and sports equipment needs through donors and supporters.
In a country where cricket is popular, how do you think football could be a game-changer?
P: In this span of 10 years, we have seen football becoming more popular. The World Cup is a good example of India to grow interested in football. When the under-17 World Cup for Women was happening in India, we put TV sets in Ranipet for the girls to watch the football matches. We created a safe place for them at Ranipet, and we all sat together and watched the match. This changed their whole perspective of the game. The girls could relate to the game because they were all in the same age category and they also know to play the game. Football can be a game that can connect them in many ways in terms of educating them about the geographical location of the countries playing on the field, making personal predictions, and watching and following the game.
advice for young students
P: Have a balance in life. You have a dream, aspire for it, go for it, and work hard to achieve them. Make it happen. Learn to balance life and your social activities. You have to make your
dream work.
S: Being a sports person is harder than being in any other field. You have to sacrifice a lot to achieve in sports. Don’t give up but also learn to keep a balance in academics. You should have a fallback option if sports doesn’t work out.
WHAT ARE YOUR NEXT GOALS?
S: We want to grow without diluting quality. Without losing our vision — to Engage, Enable and Inspire children through sports. Hence, we are going to work with partners who have the same mentality.