Arti is also like a mentor who has been there and done that. After having played six nationals, this 24-year-old aggressively asserts how the girls need to be serious in practice, but later one gets to see a calmer side to her when she says, “They are young and we need to constantly tell them what they are here for”.

Arti, after finishing her NIS coaching in Patiala, coaches at the Big Ben Club in Nagpur and is also a physical education teacher and says, “Though I’m a coach now, I will always grab an opportunity to play for the state.”

But Ratna Bhalavi is on a different mission. This 19-year-old wants to join the state police and says, “A lot of girls from our club have joined the state police after playing football.” With child-like enthusiasm she says, “I want to follow them.” But she dreads the thought of getting a small rank in the force and says, “I’m going to study hard too, so that I can get a good position.”

Jalgaon’s Aquila Paul has no such job aspirations and says, “The best of being in the state team is that one gets to play in the Mumbai league.” She eagerly waits for the start of the league and also the rink football tournaments that are organised in the city. Aquila is more than satisfied getting paid around Rs.5000 to play eight matches in the league.

These girls have played in quite a few nationals but Rupali Gade from Buldana is a first timer and a right thumb fracture has not dimmed her enthusiasm. With the plastered arm hung from her neck, she says unperturbed, “One plays football with the feet and not hands. I’ve come all the way from Buldana and will therefore give the trials and then go home.”

Rupali has now decided to undergo the selection trials as a defender instead of a goalkeeper. Though different things attach these girls to football, they have a common goal of reaching the quarter-finals at the upcoming nationals.