After getting a positive response from the fans on the LIVE session with our skipper, Peter Hartley, it was time to give our passionate fans another opportunity to interact with the Men of Steel and this time, we went live on zoom with two of our favourites.
To kick things off, the fans were asked to participate in a simple contest. The shortlisted winners of this contest were then gratified with a chance to attend a LIVE ZOOM call with not just one but two of the players from the club. The session saw our two young Indian nationals, Jitendra Singh and Boris Singh who were a part of the U-17 World Cup squad, have a friendly chat with the enthusiastic fans of Jamshedpur FC. The live session was also streamed on Facebook for the other fans to watch and enjoy.
With lots of excitement and eagerness to get a sneak peek into the world of football, the fans asked intriguing questions to satisfy their curiosity and Jitendra and young Boris too came up with some insightful and interesting answers.
Here is part 1 of the live session with Jitendra and Boris reminiscing about their reaction to getting selected for the U-17 World Cup squad, and their experiences in their footballing career so far.
Your reaction when you got selected for the U-17 World Cup
Boris: We were very lucky that India hosted the U-17 World Cup. We were happy that India could contribute to the world of football as the World Cup has never been hosted in our country. We were lucky to get a chance to be a part of the squad because it is not easy to get such opportunities, plus a lot of hard work was put in with numerous trials to get shortlisted into the team. Then, when the final squad list came out, we were scared to check it as we feared if our names would be present in it or not. Of course, we were happy to see our names on the list but we were sad at the same time for our teammates who were not selected for the World Cup. When we told this news to our families, everyone was delighted. Now the U-17 Women’s World Cup is also being held in India and I just want to thank AIFF for bringing such opportunities to our country.
How did you end up making a career in football in a cricket loving country?
Jitendra: Cricket is the most popular sport in India. In fact, I myself liked playing it during my childhood years. But, not every family can afford to have their children make a career in cricket; the cricket equipment is quite expensive. My mother had once taken me to play football and since then I fell in love with this sport and preferred it over cricket ever since. Of-course it felt great when I won a couple of trophies and medals from playing tournaments so that encouraged me even more. After seeing the achievements, I decided to make a career out of it. Now, I try to work hard every day to make myself better as there is still a long way to go; this is just the beginning for me.
How do you pick yourself up after a tough game or a loss
Jitendra: After a bad game, all our focus turns towards the mistakes we made or the chances we missed and we ask ourselves why we made the errors that we did. You lose sleep for 2-3 days but the only way to fight through this feeling is to stop regretting and rather work on making improvements by watching the video of the mistakes because it tells you exactly where you need to work on in the future. You just have to make sure you train harder and bounce back from those errors by realising and acting upon it. This will always help you grow moving forward.
Moments of laughter and fun were shared as well as both players discussed fun instances from ISL seasons. Stay tuned with us as we’ll be bringing in some more questions from the LIVE session between Boris & Jitendra and the fans.
Read Zoom Live Part 2: A personal chat with Jitendra and Boris
