In big man US football league, guys score a different kind of goal
Participants in the "Man vs Fat Soccer" weight-loss program play a soccer game, in Houston, Texas (RONALDO SCHEMIDT) In a football league of big men trying to lose weight, the five-a-side teams feature names like OB City, Big Bananas and Heavy Touch FC. And players can score before the game even starts, standing on a scale and winning goal points for chipping away at their weight problems. Last week there was a game in which the scoreboard read 11-0 before anyone had even kicked the ball.
Welcome to Man vs. Fat Soccer, a tongue-in-cheek Texas league that is thriving as Houston prepares to join cities elsewhere in the United States in hosting World Cup games, along with Mexico and Canada. One of the players is Alberto Escalante, 28, who put on weight after a car accident left him temporarily paralyzed from the waist down.
He tipped the scales at 168 kilos (370 lb) when he signed up for this league of heavy men poking fun at themselves. In three months he has lost 15 kilos. When Escalante first joined the eight-team league he was embarrassed to be part of a squad called OB City and did not want to tell people.
"But now it's funny and I enjoy it," he told AFP, proud to sport the team's bright red jersey. Of his weight loss, he said he cannot yet notice it in the mirror but he feels better. "I'm not that tired.
I'm not as agitated as I was before. And health-wise, it's been helping me manage my food intake," said Escalante. - Kilos shed, points earned - It is Tuesday night and the teams gather to play football.