Chandomaye Malola Kannan

From a Scholar Father to a Soccer Daughter

A Traditional Mylaporean explores a career in Soccer Analytics

It is a sign of the changing world. The next gen from a traditional Mylapore household is exploring a career in a sport that has historically not necessarily been popular in this part of the country or at least for sportswomen in Madras. Chandomaye Malola Kannan, daughter of Vedic Scholar and Prabhandham expert, is 20 and at crossroads in her life.

She has just completed her graduation from MOP Vaishnava College in Madras and is in that phase in life when one, typically, is confused on the future prospects. It is an age when family talks in the past used to revolve around finding the right groom or may be in the more recent past on finding a ‘9-5’ job. But not anymore and definitely not with Chandomaye.

This story is indicative of the transformative changes taking place in the heart of Mylapore. Chandomaye has spent the better part of the last decade on the football field and is clear on the way forward for her. Marriage is not on the cards. Cooking at home is definitely not an area of interest and the message is clear that boys of the future have to train themselves in household chores “Having dedicated a lot of time to football over the last 10 years, I want to pursue my passion and make a career out of it” she told this writer last week.

Since being a school girl, she has played football and participated in tournaments across the country. She has also made overseas trips to play football. Once into College, in addition to playing football, she made her entry into football coaching with a one year contract with the World One Football Academy and has been coaching the Under 8s. She has also come through the D-Licensing test for professional coaching.

Soccer Analytics

At 20, she has identified Soccer Analytics as a potential career option. In cricket, analytics has come to play a big role including in the IPL with video analysts going in-depth into every ball of the match both of their own team players as well as the opposition. While it has not yet taken off  in a big way in Indian football, analytics has kicked off in European football leagues with specialist roles being created “In the past the coach used to do this as well by just watching the game. Now with technology coming into play, analytics is being used to track every movement in football.”

It is a bold career call for a traditional Mylaporean girl to take. Chandomaye sees a career potential in Analytics and believes she will be ahead of the curve if she makes a foray into Soccer Analytics now as she expects it to become an integral part of coaching once the football league in India takes off in a big way “Currently, it is a very niche area in the soccer space. I believe that soccer analytics will become an in-thing in Football in India in the next 10 years and with this early initiation, I will have a heads up on others.”

In line with this thought process, this summer she is pursuing a global online course in Soccer Analytics and is looking to explore options this new football season in this largely untested area in Football in India. 

This section will track her progress.