Sisters in Sweat: from a Bengaluru kickabout in 2017 to 20,000 women across 10 Indian cities

Tanvie Hans and Swetha Subbiah have turned a dinner-party question in Bengaluru in 2017 into Sisters in Sweat, a women-first sports community that now includes 20,000 participants across 10 Indian cities, nine years after the first session.

The initiative began when Hans, an Indian-born British footballer who played professionally in England, agreed to teach a small group to play; 17 women — mostly friends and acquaintances — attended that first Sunday morning session. Co-founded by Hans and the performance coach Swetha Subbiah, Sisters in Sweat has expanded beyond football into a range of activities and markets itself as India’s largest women-first sports community. "It wasn’t something that Swetha and I sat down to plan or even recognised was a gap in the market," Hans, a former Tottenham and Fulham midfielder, tells Moving the Goalposts.

Sessions are coach-led and run two to three times a week, with participants choosing between beginner and intermediate classes according to ability. Entry starts at about 300 Indian rupees — just under £2.50 — and women of all ages are welcome, whether trying football for the first time, returning to the game or seeking recreational activity. The community now operates from Chandigarh in the north to Chennai in the south, with football among the most popular offerings.

The standard session structure mirrors the founders’ original format: a brief huddle for introductions and an outline of the next 90 minutes, followed by a warm-up and partner or group drills designed to break the ice. Music accompanies the drills and sessions finish with an accessible 30-minute game intended to consolidate skills and camaraderie. "You feel like, 'Oh, I can actually play football and want to get better. I can’t wait to come back for the next session'," Hans says, adding: "Honestly, just being at the session opens doors for connection. It happens very naturally, and by the end of 90 minutes, you feel you belong here."

Organisers present Sisters in Sweat as providing rare third spaces in India’s densely populated tier 1 cities where women can exercise and socialise without fear of judgment or safety concerns. The programme’s expansion coincides with a projected growth in India’s fitness market from $12.3bn (£9.2bn) in 2024 to $23.2bn by 2030 — an 88.6% increase over six years cited in coverage of the community’s growth.

Subbiah, who has been a Nike coach for over a decade, points to international comparisons to explain demand: "My cousin, who is from the UK, was actively involved in our Sisters in Sweat sessions while she was in India on holiday. But after she returned to the UK, she wasn’t able to find a community like that," she says. "I have heard the same thing from friends in Singapore and other countries. So, I think we, in many ways, have been the first movers to identify this."

The founders also frame Sisters in Sweat as a response to the pattern of Indian women dropping out of sport after formal education, a trend they attribute to social roles and domestic pressure. "Once a woman leaves her role as a student, she moves on to her next role in life, which is typically becoming a wife," Subbiah says. "Then she takes on all the household duties. Add a kid into the mix, and her personal time is minimised." She adds: "There is also immense pressure on a lot of Indian women not to go out or play outdoors because they could catch a tan and look less appealing. A lot of the work we’ve done is to push past these social constructs and say, \"Get a tan, it’s beautiful. Come out and play with us, you’ll feel great.\""

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