Joanna Lohman + Lianne Sanderson = JoLi clinics supporting womens football in India

A few months back I received an email from US Soccer President Sunil Gulati. Two professional football players who players who played in the now defunct WPS, Joanna Lohman and Lianne Sanderson, had gotten in touch with him seeking support with their plans to help the Indian women’s national team qualify for a FIFA World Cup. They had put together an ambitious proposal, aptly entitled JoLi clinics, and were interested in getting in touch with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) so they could begin preparations for their January 2012 JoLi clinics.

I’m always happy to help out anyone interested in coming over to India to support the development of football over here, however, experience has shown me that only 10% of the people who say they are coming over “to help” actually do, especially when it’s on their own dime. However, going by the fact that they play professionally, they know Sunil and they had written a convincing email my hunch said that these women were pretty serious about making a difference in this country. My hunch was right.

I connected them with the AIFF and introduced them to a good friend, Franz Gastler, who heads up the inspiring YUWA India project in a village outside of Jharkhand http://yuwa-india.org/ . The collective thought was that it would be special to have players from the Indian women’s team travel to Jharkhand and work with JoLi to run a clinic for the girls in the village. Everyone was sold on the plan and things started moving from there.

Joanna, Lianne and Franz ended up putting together an incredible program which involved an extended clinic in the village Franz lives and Joanna and Lianne stayed in, a friendly match between AIFF and the YUWA girls, 3 YUWA girls getting selected for the next AIFF national team camp and a whole lot of unforgettable memories. Joanne and Lianne’s experience was captured well by them in this blog post: http://joannalohman.wordpress.com/

They both had a day in Delhi before heading back to Spain and they came by the Libero office so we could meet them in person. After we had the pleasure of hearing about their experience in the village firsthand, we headed to the AIFF headquarters to discuss future plans with the manager of the women’s National Team. It was then that I became present to how serious Joanne and Lianne are about making a difference to women footballers in India. I’m clear that they were not looking to come over here for a quick holiday/football clinic, they truly are committed to leaving a legacy in this country and will put in whatever work they have to in order to make it happen.

I feel blessed that I got a chance to meet these two wonderful women and am 100% sure that I’ll be seeing a lot more of Joanna and Lianne in India in the future…all to the benefit of the young girls around the country who dream of representing their country in a FIFA World Cup one day.

Quick update: here is an espnw article that mentions the JoLi visit to India: http://espn.go.com/espnw/journeys-victories/7574508/espnw-bringing-women-soccer-india