She is a talented footballer and plays as mid fielder. Though only 14, Zarastyn Mistry was selected to be part of the Indian team, Girls Under-16 and went to Colombo, Sri Lanka for the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Championship 2012 Qualifiers Round last November. "Football is my passion. I find it very inspiring. It teaches team spirit and coordination. I particularly enjoy dribbling and distribution in the game. My strength is in tackling my opponent and assisting my players in the forward line,” the J. B. Petit High School eighth standard student says.
Mistry has proved her prowess in track and field as well, taking part and winning in what is known as the triathlon in athletics — 100 m sprint, shot put and long jump. "In triathlon, my strongest event is long jump,” she says. Last year, she stood first in triathlon at the Bombay City District meet, proceeding to the zonals at Balewadi in Poona where she topped once again. She was selected for the West Zone but unfortunately missed it as she was attending a coaching camp. For athletics, she trains with other Bombay Parsi Punchayet athletes at Rustom Baug under chief coach Dara Doomasia. "He is a great coach and it is because of his dedicated efforts and training that I have succeeded in athletics,” the teenager says. Zarastyn is potentially very good, Doomasia told Parsiana. "Triathlon brings me individual accolades. I am an all rounder and, besides football and athletics, I also like to play basketball, throw ball and dodge ball for my school.”
The lass trains for football at the Karnataka Grounds (in the Flora Fountain area, close to her school) with other schoolgirls under coach Fenny Fernandes thrice a week in the mornings and once a week with the well-known Kenkre Football Club in the evenings. Mistry’s school football team won third place in the Subroto Cup (inter-school football tournament) and second place in the DSO (District Sports Office) tournament. The hard work paid off when the Western India Football Association selected only two players from Maharashtra, of whom Zarastyn was one, for the six-week national team selection camp at Gandhinagar in Gujarat, her mother Jasmin informs us. The All India Football Federation selected Zarastyn as the only player from Maharashtra to attend a coaching camp in Gurgaon and she went on to Colombo as part of the national team, Jasmin explains.
"I train and study a little every day, but when tournaments are lined up I focus only on football. When exams come up I stop training and focus only on studies. Apart from that, I have sacrificed playing with my friends in the evening and rarely go out with them. When they are enjoying, I am either training or studying!” Zarastyn lost her father Darayus several years ago and counts on her mother’s support to achieve her goals.