as a footballer yolanda de sousa was good really good so good that she became the first woman to score a hattrick for india so good that she was voted playerofthedecade in 1980 and so good that since her retirement in 1981 nobody has even come remotely close to replicating her achievements on the fieldbefore she took to football she was good in hockey too so good that she was once summoned to represent india never mind that the government did not eventually clear the trip to russia due to political concernsshe is equally good in art and continues to showcase her exhibitions around the world primarily london montreal venice moscow and berlin next month she has been invited to the international art camp in romania and she will make her presence felt in a country rich in history arts and scenic beautyhow can someone be so talented and that too in such diverse fields like sports and art youve heard about her exploits in football hockey and art and we havent even mentioned athletics and badminton a sport she was so good that she once participated in a zonal badminton camp that also featured all england champion prakash padukone in madras now chennaimay be it was simply all in the genes her father joveniano de sousa was a champion footballer of yesteryears who plied his trade in mumbai primarily with tata sc and her mother rita augusta was an exceptional painter mastering an art form which very few in the state havewe had it in our genes mum was arty while dad was good in every game said yolanda speaking to us one fine morning at her residence in calangute where she is settled with rudolf kammermeier her husband of german origin and daughter sarahyolandas remains a fascinating story and deserves to be told it may not be the case elsewhere but at least in this part of the world it has clearly mattered to many that football is synonymous with masculinity but as yolandas story would demonstrate that was never the case when she got enveloped by the magic of footballfootball came naturally to me playing alongside my brother francisco and his friends but most of the times i was shunted to the goal recalls yolanda who went on to become the first goan to captain the indian football teamyolanda now 62 picked up hockey from her brothers friends who came home from pune where they lived during holidays while her uncle benjamin gis proena a man who knew most games took pains to teach them games like tennis and ball badmintoni picked up badminton while in school at little flower in calangute from our physical education teacher david we played the game even though we didnt know the rules said yolandait was football though that yolanda fell in love with scoring a goal in a friendly against a mens team appropriately called adams during carnival celebrations at police ground in 1973 it was