Young Shreyas living his football dream

Shreyas Ketkar has grown as a footballer by leaps and bounds ever since his father Shashank Ketkar introduced him to the sport at the age of six. His father took him to a ground nearby where he saw other kids play and was immediately drawn to the game.

Since then he has captained the Karnataka under-17 team that won the football competition in the Khelo India Youth Games last year. He fondly remembers the victory.

“It was a big moment because Karnataka hadn’t won anything in the past 6 to 10 years. So, winning that was special,” Shreyas, a student of Delhi Public School, East, said. “It was a good tournament. The level was obviously very high. We just had to stay focused because we knew we had to win. We wanted to try our best and that’s what kept us going,” he added.

Previously, Shreyas had led the Karnataka under-14 side in the sub-junior nationals in 2017. A year later, he was included in the state squad, which participated in the BC Roy Trophy in Cuttack.

The 15-year-old has a strict training regimen, and he admits that there have been times when he found it difficult to maintain the balance between studies and sport. “I train under coach Aslam sir in SAI. Basically, we have training six days a week. Sunday is off,” said Shreyas. “Yes, there are days... After you come back from school, you are very tired, and then you can’t study. On those days you have to skip and just sleep. But on other days, you have to put in extra work and study.”

However, there were moments when he had pondered about his choices. “Last year when there weren’t any tournaments and we were just training continuously, there was this feeling that I should try something else. I spoke to my friends, my mom and dad and they helped,” he said. Shreyas was also among the chosen few, who got a chance to meet former Manchester United player Denis Irwin last year.

“One of the ex-United coaches had come to share his view. We didn’t get to meet him for long but on the last day, he talked about his experience with United and how it was playing in the Premier League,” he said.

His ultimate aim is to see himself donning the Indian colours.

“It’s just been a part of my life for so long. I really hope to play in the Indian team in future,” he said.