DIMAPUR, JANUARY 11 (MExN): “I always felt at home at the football field; it was my passion and despite all the negative perception here about sports as a profession, I was certain about pursuing playing football as a career,” says fourteen year old Bapenyimjong who is one of Nagaland’s bright footballing prospects.
At the young age of 12, Bapen decided to write the first chapter of his footballing life and enrolled himself at the Nagaland State Sports Academy in 2016 to turn his hobby into a profession.
With his parents passing away at an early age, it was his elder sister who became his driving force and helped in bringing his footballing dream into reality. Although he naturally felt more comfortable playing in the position of a left wing, he complied as a true footballer when there was dearth of left backs in his academy.
In 2017, the Tata Trusts Centre of Excellence (CoE) at Aizawl, Mizoram began their search for the first batch of hidden talents from the Northeastto be trained by the best coaches and teachers. Out of 400 boys, Bapen impressed the coaches even while playing in a compromised position.
“Among all those boys who turned up, Bapen-like players was what I was in search for. He fit into my vision for the CoE like a jigsaw piece,” said Coach Bitan Singh, the man who spotted the Dimapur boy at the trials held in Kohima.
The lessons he learnt at the CoE resonated in every match that the 14-year-old played in the recently concluded Mizoram U-15 League, where the CoE boys were crowned champions. With seven goals to his name, Bapen also boasts of assisting in several of the goals that helped his team reach the final of the league.
“I am sure I speak for all the other boys here when I say that we owe everything to the coaching staff here. While I enjoyed football throughout my life, it is only at the CoE that I have been taught how to control the ball smoothly, or how to master the art of first touch,” said Bapen, in an interview reported by the North East Initiative Development Agency (NEIDA).
The Mesut Ozil and Sunil Chhetri fan dreams of the day, when he can establish his own academy and open up not just for boys, but for girls as well. “Unlike the other north-eastern states, such as Mizoram and Manipur, I feel Nagaland is yet to grasp how much football has to offer. I want to change this perception and make it to the national team so that more people from my hometown, as well as the rest of Nagaland, pay attention to football. If I could do my bit to see more Naga people in the national squad in the years to come, I will feel like I have accomplished something big in life,” said Bapen.
In his free time, Bapen enjoys reading autobiographies of some of his heroes. In the stories of football legends like Pirlo, Sir Alex Ferguson and Iniesta, Bapen constantly seeks inspiration to get to the next level.
While his immediate goal is to work towards representing India someday, he is hopeful that hard work and dedication will bring about a day in Naga football when Bapen will be among many others who will follow the footsteps of Dr. T Ao to bring Nagaland football into the forefront.
