It was a sunny day at Cadet field of Idaho State University with excitement in the air. Numerous boots and jerseys littered the ground of different clubs, such as FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Manchester United. A Behringer Eurolive speaker with a directional mike was set ahead of starting the match for the result announcement. I went to the corner of the ground pretending myself as a professional sports photographer.
The Nepalese Students’ Association, NSA at ISU, organized 8th NSA Soccer Tournament on April 7. NSA has been organizing several cultural programs and soccer tournaments for many years. This year, the board had initiated different extracurricular activities; badminton, basketball, volleyball, chess table tennis and more. In the 8th NSA soccer tournament, I saw the 55 men and 33 women participating in the soccer tournament.
The participation suggests a level of unity among men and women in the community. I had never seen women interested in playing soccer while I was back in Nepal. Sujata Bhandari, co-ordinated for Nepalese women, and Mohan Singh Madai created a tournament with awards in different categories: player of the tournament, highest goal scorer, goalkeeper of the tournament, and defender of the tournament.“I appreciate all members who supported and participated to make the tournament successful,“ said Sveen Subedi, the newly elected president in NSA.“It was very difficult for the executive board to work with the schedule of students. Some people went for an outing, and some stayed in Pocatello. Even though the NSA board got divided group of people, Nepalese almost attended the event.”
Before the semifinals and finals, players had played practice matches for Fantasy Champions League and Europa League. The five teams: Organic thunders, Gorkhali Vipers, Violent Monks, Goal Diggers, and Asthale Fasthele Kure played a league. The team organic thunders stayed in the first position with eight points by winning two games. Gurkhas Vipers had six points and ranked in the second position.The club offered a cash prize of $200 for the winner in the last tournament. With an entrance fee of $5 for each participant. The club bought pizza and soda for all participants in the match. Players seemed excited about upcoming tournaments too.
Bipin Aryal, a defender from the FC Barcelona, said, “I have been playing from the central back field for the team, but this time it was competitive than I had imagined; however, we had played a lot of practice match before and so we won the tournament” Team Manchester United was the runner-up of the tournament. “Years ago, we had only Fifa tournament as a sport, but this year I and my friends were excited because of the tournament. It has united us and create a feeling of brotherhood. Thanks to NSA,”Aryal added.
FIFA is a virtual games. It is fun to play, but in the field wearing boots and jersey will delivers the real vibes of playing soccer. Video games increases the aggression level of person, and the club has a good initiation of the sports.“I was not sure we will get these support and participation before doing this event, but we are very happy for being able to successfully finish the tournament,” Subedi said. “They are all happy. It has opened the door for for sports and showed how much dedicated are players for the match. Now on, it's the responsibility of upcoming boards in the club, whether to continue such events or not.”
Ranjana Karki, a sophomore who participated in the tournament said, “I love watching football a lot, but I had never participated for the tournament before. Everyone was impressed with my game, I am happy for being awarded as a player of the tournament with the score of 9. This award has encouraged me to play the upcoming tournaments too.” The club received support from the university to get soccer gear such as goal post, 6-seat kwik Bench, Soccer corner flags,“ISU has a lot of resources. If we do not utilize those resources, we will be incomplete in organizing any sports and cultural events. Being a president, I have tried to persuade my juniors how we could utilize those resource in a proper way,” Subedi added. “The soccer gear is expensive to purchase or rent. The only alternatives for students to save money is using university resources, and they’ve done it.”
The club is looking for funding and sponsorships for their tournament matches. Anil Mandal, a Computer Science and Programming professor at ISU, awarded medals to match winning students. Despite having useful resources and time, the event looked so organized that NSA had a photographer, event host, guest and senior people.
“Manpower and resources are very difficult things to manage to organize soccer tournament through the club. There are players, guests, and participants. Our goal is to satisfy all people, not just payers.“said Kaushal Raj Ghimire, the vice president of NSA.
Students do not have to miss home because of the home environment NSA has created for students. Even during the break, student do not have to plan to go out of Pocatello to enjoy break, but they can participate in any NSA ongoing events.
“Basketball tournament is another demanded event from our members that we are currently working. We have a meeting on April 23 for the Basketball tournament and after we come up with ideas and thoughts, we will move ahead,”Subedi added.