Day 8, 8th May 2013 - Training Session 5

After yesterday's training session we went across to coach a girl's team who are part of the Christian Sports Fellowship.  The girls mainly come from one of the Chennai slums and we weren't really sure what to expect when we arrived.  It transpired, however, that five of the girls are actually part of the India national slum team and the standard of football they played was really high.  We did a few drills with them, which they did superbly, and then finished up with a match.  During the game it was very easy to see why some of them are playing at national level.  We are hoping that they will come across to the YMCA on Thursday to take part in the tournament day.  The guys may be in for a surprise if the girls play like they did during training!

Our training session today went well and it is possible to see an improvement with the boys every day.  It is great to come along and see how much they all love playing and although the standard varies everyone is very enthusiastic.  After the session today we went out with  Churchill, Asaph, Sanjay and Isaac to the Shore Temple, an ancient Hindu temple complex to the south of Chennai.  It was very interesting to see.  We then went down to the beach, where Churchill tried to throw Asaph into the Bay of Bengal and Dan rode off somewhere on a horse.  We then met up with Rev. Dr. Samuel Sudhakar, who treated us all to some chicken biryani, which went down very well.  We are now back at our accommodation preparing for competition day tomorrow, which the kids are very excited about (particularly the 800 rupee prize for the 'Cross-bar Challenge!).