CREDIT: LINDA WHITEHEAD
The Recreation and Leisure professor left for India February 21 to work with a non-profit organization, which uses soccer as a tool to protect young girls from child marriages and human trafficking.

Recreation and Leisure professor and former professional soccer coach Linda Whitehead spent her Reading Week in India, working with a non-profit organization called Yuwa that uses soccer to help combat child marriage and human trafficking.

The London native and Western University alumna was recruited by the Commonwealth Games Association, which sponsored her trip.

“I was recruited because of my experience in female soccer...and coaching education,” she said. “They wanted to put in a formalized coaching education system to teach these young women how to be good coaches, and that's where I fit in.”

“I went over there to help them put together a curriculum for their coaching education.”

While Whitehead had no formal experience working with girls in tough situations such as child marriage and trafficking, she saw it as a chance to give back.

“This was be a brand new experience for me. I'd never been to India before and I'd never worked with this sort of a social angle,” she said. “Soccer has given me a lot, so to be able to give back a little is pretty cool.”

This trip has been the perfect opportunity for her, as she has been seeking something out for some time.

“I've been seeking out an opportunity to use sport and social change because I think it's such a powerful tool for that,” she said. “[I wanted to be able to] show these young girls and women there's lots of opportunities in the world for them.”

Besides travelling to India for the first time,Whitehead explained there was more to be excited about.

“Meeting the players, to meeting the girls, because it takes so much courage on their part to do this,” she said.

Having a program like this put in place by Yuwa, girls are more likely to be protected from trafficking and marriage.

“It builds their self-esteem. Get a sense of possibilities [and] it allows them to see other things,” said Whitehead. “Their parents are encouraged to see the benefits of [the girls] getting an education.”

“This organization really blows me away with how much thought they've put into how they're doing this,” she said. “They've got one girl out of the program already who has been selected for the India national team.”

“I come from a pretty unique background as far as my soccer experience goes. I've always been in the women's game and there are very few women in the country with my length of time in the game, experience and qualifications in the game,” she said. “All of that experience and knowledge I have, I can pass onto them. I think will be really useful.”

Whitehead said she hopes immersion in a new culture will in turn help her understand Fanshawe's international students better.

“I've never been [to India],” she explained. “So I'm hoping it'll help me understand our international students when I go into a culture where I'm not familiar with, [because] that's exactly what they do when they come into ours.”

She hopes to return one day.

“I certainly could foresee me going back and touching base. I'm hoping this may develop into something more than just the short-term six-month program that we've got outlined now. I'd be thrilled if it worked to a longer arrangement than that.”