Who said football is for boys alone? Aneesha Labroo, founder of Kica—an activewear brand for women—recently announced the launch of Kica Women’s Super League. In cricket-crazy India, where Saina Nehwal and Sania Mirza have brought stardust to badminton and tennis, she realised that women’s soccer was setting the goalpost like never before. Read the large print: the Indian women football team has won the SAFF Women’s Championship four times in a row, that too, without losing a single game. It has also bagged two gold medals at the South Asian Games. In January, Scottish professional soccer club—Rangers Women’s Football Club—announced that they have signed up Manipur Police Sports Club’s Bala Devi on an 18-month contract. Women are not just kicking the ball around. They are playing ball with a vengeance.
Kica Women’s Super League comprises six teams and is an amateur football tournament which welcomes girls of all ages, skill sets and backgrounds. Labroo wants to show women that achieving physical fitness can also be fun. “The best part about this league is that it encourages amateur players. We have professional leagues but there are none for amateurs,” says Labroo. The enthusiasm for learning a new sport, the desire to find new and exciting ways to be and stay active was her motivation behind starting the initiative.
Labroo was aware that Bengaluru and Mumbai host women’s football leagues. She was certain that Delhi-NCR needs similar platforms. The Kica Women’s Super League will host matches every Sunday till March 8 at the Conscient Sports Arena, bringing together 80 players in 50-minute games divided into half segments. The feedback is promising. “Weekly beginner training sessions are getting traction, friendly matches were being organised twice a week, and every session more and more women are joining in,” says the University of Pennsylvania alumna.
Discovering women interested in playing soccer was easy. Women of all ages, backgrounds and skill sets have came together to be a part of the league. Labroo says, “India is becoming health conscious. The movement to fitness is visible everywhere. This change is the most rapid in women. They are willing to try new things and adapting their lifestyle to include healthier habits.” Labroo and the organisers of the Kica Women’s Super League had a difficult time finding sponsors at first. Finally, Vanilla Moon and six other sponsors, including CK Birla Hospital for Women, Kama Ayurveda, Paper Pipe, Pure- Home+Living, Tahiliani Homes and The Lalit, came on board.
Will she be shifting her goalposts? “Oh, very much! This is just the start. Season 2 will be announced shortly. A healthy, active lifestyle is at the core of what Kica believes in. We are continuously promoting this theme in our collections, events, offline and online presence. We hope to motivate women to be active, inspire them to stretch boundaries, break resistance, and define new goals,” says the 28-year-old soccerpreneur, who thinks that the desire to be healthy has to come from within. Having a community of people around you who are encouraging and motivating makes it a lot easier. “It is an opportunity to build an empowered community of active women,” she says. This is just a kick-off.