Anupam Roy, a seventh-grade student, tells the remarkable story of Kento, a village boy who overcomes adversity to achieve international football stardom despite facing challenges from his modest upbringing and family hardships.
This is the story of a village boy named Kento, who came from a very poor background. Kento lived in a village with his mother and father, his two sisters, Kainya and Rashi, and his elder brother, Kohan. His mother used to work as a maidservant, whereas his father was an auto driver. The financial condition of the family was very poor. They couldn’t even afford to send their children to a private school.The children used to study in a modest Hindi-medium government school.
One fine day, Kento was coming back from school when he saw some children playing football on the ground. After seeing the children playing football he developed an immediate interest in the game. He rushed towards the ground where the children were playing and started to play with them. He played till the evening, and after that day, he started playing football daily after school.
After some days, he started watching football matches, reading and collecting information about them with the help of newspapers, and also reading biographies and magazines about his favourite football players. For him, football had become more than his life itself.
One day he watched an interview with his favourite footballer, and from that moment on, he decided to make his career in football. The next day, he went to his father to ask about it. Considering the financial condition of the house, his father angrily refused and said, “You can become successful in your life only by studying, but you cannot achieve anything by playing sports.” He was deeply hurt on listening his father’s words. He thought of giving up his dream of playing football. In such difficult situation, his elder brother Kohan helped him master courage and overcome all the hurdles.
One day, when his father was returning home in the evening, he saw Kento playing football on the ground. He was shocked when he saw his son playing so well. At that moment, he decided that he would make him a football player. On that night, Kento’s father called him and asked if he liked playing football and wanted to become a footballer. Kento nodded his head and told his father that he was ready to work hard for it.
The next day, his father took him to a local football academy, and from that day on, he never looked back. Every day, he went to practice and listened to his coach very sincerely. In every match, he tried to give his best. Sometimes the children in the academy made fun of him because he was new there, but he never paid any attention to it. He devoted all his time to playing football. Everything was running smoothly until one day life took a sudden turn. His father passed away in an accident. After his father’s death, the entire responsibility of the family fell on his mother, but Kento didn’t stop playing football, as he had promised his father to be a great footballer.
Due to his hard work, he earned the chance to play at the district level. After giving a good performance there, he was selected by the scouters and got a wonderful chance to play at the national level. After achieving victory, he never looked back in his life. He tried to improve himself more and more, and by doing so, after two years, he got a chance to play at the international level. When he heard the news, he couldn’t believe it, but as he realized he started to train himself.
On the first day of the match, he was pity nervous. Normally in any match, he never gets nervous, but here he was, and it was justified because it was an international match and everyone was going to watch him. But then he got a call from his mother, and she said, “We are all watching you, and we are eagerly waiting to see you holding the trophy.” By saying this, she dropped the call. After hearing the encouraging words from his mother, he felt motivated; after playing the first match, he kept winning all the matches one after another. He not only won the trophy but also made his country proud.
After that, in an interview, he was asked, “What is the biggest reason behind your success?”
Kento said, “The biggest reason behind my success is my father. For me, he is more than God because he understood the talent inside me and gave me a golden opportunity to showcase it. Now, today, I am standing here only because of my father.”
Tears rolled down his eyes as he spoke.
