European Freestyle footballers Patrick Bauer and Aguska are currently showcasing their incredible football juggling skills in various parts of the city, including at Lal Chowk and on the banks of the Dal Lake. They have left local people absolutely thrilled and mesmerised with their skills.
Agushka is from Poland, while Bauer is from Germany, and both are freestyle football champions and Guinness World Record Holders.
Agushka is a five-time world champion, while Bauer is a four-time champion.
Braving the bone-chilling cold of Srinagar, both expressed their happiness and joy about their visit.
In between, they took time off to speak to a Brighter Kashmir team.
“This my first visit to India and to Kashmir. I love Dal Lake. The atmosphere here is something I have never seen elsewhere. This is a place that brings out a lot of joy and I think many more people should come here and experience it for themselves,” Agushka told BK.
She said she started freestyle football 11 years ago and because of her involvement with this sport, she has been able to travel all over the world to “show people our passion, our sport that we love”.
“That has been our main purpose - to show people our sport, to inspire them and give them an option that trains them to take on the challenges that life offers,” Agushka said.
The Polish star revealed that freestyle football takes a lot of time to master and added that a lot of practice is needed.
“I believe that if you are passionate about something, you will continue to do it. In my case, I loved this sport so much that while personally nothing was going right for me with my life, this activity helped me to achieve my goals with consistent and constant practice. The result of this work is that I have been a world champion in freestyle football on five occasions and my aim is to be the best in the world,” she said.
“Freestyle football is for everybody. I had no support from my family and my parents did not know about it, and did not want me to be involved with it. My observation is that don’t do something for anybody else; do it because you want to do it, that’s all that matters,” she said.
“I love the sun in Kashmir. I didn’t expect India to be cold. Find your passion; find your calling in life and just be happy with whatever you are doing,” Agushka said.
Bauer told BK, “We are really enjoying our time here in Kashmir. It’s amazing to see this beautiful area, the beautiful places, the landscapes, the people and everything else. The people are super friendly and we are really enjoying it.”
“I started freestyle footfall 16 years ago and I try to do many different tricks with the football, and my goal; our mission, is to make people happy. To make them smile and like each other, share good vibes, etc. That is most important for us. While we are here, we want to make people happy,” he said.
He said the weather in Srinagar is quite cold but added that both Agushka and he are used to this kind of temperature, which is quite common in Europe.
“I come from Germany, we also have winter and snow there now,” he said.
“What’s beautiful about freestyle football is that you can perform it in any weather, any temperature, whether it snows, or we are at the beach, etc. We have travelled to more than 30 countries in the past three years and what we have seen is that everybody loves football, loves to watch the football tricks we are doing, which is amazing. Age is not a restriction at all to take part in it. Our aim is to reach out to more and more people all over the world to make them smile and be happy. We must never give up and we must have belief in ourselves, and follow your dreams. And everything is possible,” he said.
“My dream as a child was to be a Guinness World Record holder and I achieved this a few years ago. With Akouska, we have over 40 world records now,” he concluded.
