Mumbai’s Arsiwala breaking barriers in PKL
MUMBAI: Joining the U Mumba kabaddi franchise setup as a strength and conditioning coach a couple of years ago, Abeer Arsiwala stared at an invisible wall. On the other side of it stood the players, unsure about what a woman—especially one that doesn’t look anything like a kabaddi player—could bring to the table.
“For the kabaddi players who have never worked with a woman, specifically a woman trainer, it was like a culture shock,” Arsiwala says. “They come with a mindset, right? That I don’t want gyaan, especially from a young woman who is tiny. But because U Mumba has a lot of young players, it was easy to change their mindsets. And the moment the players see the difference on the mat, they start to realise. Then the whole wall comes down.”
In a sport and league flocked with sturdy men battling to outmanoeuvre each other on the mat with speed, stamina and strength, Arsiwala, 24, is the only female among the training staff of all teams in the eighth season of the Pro Kabaddi (PK). Arsiwala and her partner Manuel D’souza signed up as the strength and conditioning trainers of U Mumba in 2019, but this is the first time that the duo is part of the season as the league resumed after a two-year hiatus. And as she looks around within the bio-bubble in Bengaluru where all the teams are stationed, Arsiwala has bittersweet feelings about being in the extreme minority. “Of course, I feel really grateful that I’m here, I get to do what I love and that I’m associated with a team that has a management and players who reciprocate the respect. I’m happy that I’m the first and it’s a start, but I also feel sad that it’s never done before,” she says.
Football player to kabaddi trainer
Arsiwala has grown up being around—and playing—with boys. Having two elder brothers who played football in their society in Mumbai, Arsiwala enjoyed the sport and took it up in school. In 2009, she played her first age-group nationals for Maharashtra and three years later, got into the India U-19 team for the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship qualifiers Round 1 and 2. The midfielder was also part of the senior national camps in 2016 and 2017, but couldn’t get into the squad.
In 2017, while also pursuing a hotel management degree from the DY Patil college, Arsiwala realised football alone would not be able to pay bills. She sought an alternate career, and zeroed in on an unlikely option for an active athlete: studying strength and conditioning.
“I saw that divide where players do well when they are young, but the moment they come in U-17 category, the performance dips. That has to do a lot with aspects like conditioning and nutrition. That’s when my partner and I decided that we want to study this field,” she says.
The same year, Arsiwala took up an online course in Performance Enhancement Specialization at the Us-based National Academy of Sports Medicine. She and D’souza, also a footballer, then set up Mannybee, a fitness centre. In 2019, they got the contract from U Mumba to look after the strength and conditioning of its city-based football club, its franchise in the Pro Volleyball League and eventually, the U Mumba kabaddi team.
Was there even an iota of hesitation for Arsiwala breaking into a sport largely perceived as being male-dominated? “Never,” pat comes the reply. “Because all my life I’ve played with men and have had coaches who are men. So for me, working with an allmale team was just like any other project. The support from the technical coaches and management was important, because if you’re constantly battling for two things—to make your space in an all-male team and to do your job correctly, it can’t happen when either is not happening. Luckily, that hasn’t been the case with me,” she says.