Game, Set, Go

A football coach, an educator and a national level hockey player, Tanaz Mohammed is changing the way we look at sports

- Shelly Anand

As a eight-year-old, Mumbai-based Tanaz Mohammed had always been different. While most of her friends would opt for indoor games, she would be out in the ground playing hockey. Her love for sports didn’t stop there and she started playing football alongside. “My primary sport during my childhood days was hockey, and football was secondary because there was no formal training available for it. It was my hockey coach who trained us in football. Both the games had similar formations and it helped us grow as a team,” says Mohammed, 26, a national-level hockey and Level 1 football coach educator with Premier Skills, an international collaboration project between the Premier League and the British Council. Having played several matches in hockey as well as football, she talks about the changing perception about taking up sports as a serious profession.

What were the challenges you had to face to be where you are today?