To describe any art in words is like trying to confess your love to that one girl. It’s too damn difficult!! Freestyle Football is even more difficult than that. I can’t pass the ball in the right direction, let alone keeping it in the air while doing fancy moves. Bah, I’d rather tell the chick I like her!
Freestyle involves keeping a football in the air with the help of your entire body except your arms(there are exceptions to that too). At the end of the day it’s a kind of show that’s put on, so it involves complicated and fancy moves and combos. Sports classes at online universities can teach you about the history of Freestyle Football.Around the world (atw), headstall, side slap, rainbow are moves that take hours to perfect. Most of us have ‘ooh’ed and ‘aah’ed while watching freestylers’ videos on the tube. They’re all over the top, surreal movements we’d be scared to do even without a ball to worry about. Lately I was surprised to see a tinge of brown in a freestyle vid on the tube. The tinge of brown being an Indian guy, performing like he really meant it! Freestyle has come to India and its now being accepted with open arms all over.
We got in touch with 3 top freestylers from Mumbai to find out more about the discipline and its entire scene in India. Meet Adrian , Archis And Baldev :
Baldev
The Beginning : I just read a poster around the street in bandra that red bull street style is gonna happen after 11 days and I just got myself prepare to go there and enjoy the moments I played with the ball and came 2nd! How Long : 1.5 years How Much Practice : Its not about the hours, I practice whenever I feel like it.. But around 4-5 hours Achievements : Coming 2nd both the years at Mumbai qualifier Favourite Trick : Sole juggles Hardest Trick : Back heel Trick you just cannot get : hardcore combos Aagey ke kya plans hain beta? : I will continue my whole life! Chick Magnet? : Pretty bad, but sometimes very good results |
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Adrian
The Beginning : I started freestyling by watching the Nike commercials where Ronaldinhio used to do tricks like balance the ball on the head neck etc.. It really looked cool so I started practicing and got the hang of it so started finding videos on the net. YouTube was a big help! How Long : 3 years How Much Practice : I practice around 2-3 hours daily. I make it a point to spend time with the ball, because practice is really important, otherwise you loose touch. Achievements : Biggest achievement would be when we performed at Taj Lands end in Bandra, Mumbai. It was for the launch of a sports magazine and a lot of celebrities like Dino Morea, Shilpa Shetty, Sachin and Mugdha Godse were there. We got to meet them, so was a really kewl experience. Favourite Trick : latw Hardest Trick : patw Trick you just cannot get : new shit Aagey ke kya plans hain beta? : Well nothings sure right now but freestyle football is getting alot of importance nowadays. Companies, colleges and sports brands call us to perform and the pay is also good. If you love doing sumthing and you getting paid for it, then its good. Its more like a part time way of earning cash
Chick Magnet? : Yeah chicks do get impressed a lot.. they cheer n stuff for us. They like it a lot, especially if they are football fans.. |
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ArchisThe Beginning : I was forced to stay at home to study for a long time. I started watching Youtube videos of freestylers across the globe. That got me curious. How Long : 2 years How Much Practice : I used to put in 4-5 hours daily in the beginning. Now I'm irregular, but I still manage some good practice daily. Achievements :
Favourite Trick : Roll back pencil drop (with the ball) Hardest Trick : Upper Head roll combos Trick you just cannot get : latw Aagey ke kya plans hain beta? : It started off as a hobby. I do plan to carry on professionally too. Engineering is my backup option :P
Chick Magnet? : It does get you attention. But then, the chicks are just a bonus! |
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So these guys are quite the crowd pullers. But what next?!
To take it to the next level, these three have formed a crew of their own, wherein the co-ordinate and enthrall the spectators together. Such crews are pretty common abroad, but it’s a fresh concept here. Delhi based ‘Street Kings of India’ being the first professional free-style crew of India. The Mumbai guys call themselves ‘The Game Breakers’. Fancy name and all, but so are their moves. If each one of them is such a treat to watch, the three of them would be quite a spectacle together. GO BROWN!!! :P
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