In keeping with its reputation as one of the leading professional clubs driving grassroots & youth football, Pune FC recently hosted the inaugural edition of the Godrej Properties-Pune FC Futsal Cup 2015. Envisioned as an inter-school Under 12 invitational five-a-side tournament, the competition gave over 40 schools from all over the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad area a much-needed platform to showcase their talent. One unique feature of the tournament required all participating teams to field at least one Under 10 player at all times on the pitch. This encouraged coaches to give talented Under 10 players a taste of competitive action.
JN Petit coach offers advice to his players
Participating teams were divided into more than 13 groups comprising 3 teams with the top team from each group progressing into the knockout phase. JN Petit Tehnical High School, City International (Kothrud), Spicer Higher Secondary School, SNBP (Rahatani), Sardar Dastur Hoshang Boys School and Infant Jesus High School were some of the teams that performed well during the tournament with the eventual winners, Bharatiya Vidyapeeth (Balewadi), coming out on top in the finals against Vibgyor High (NIBM).
Players in action at the tournament
While coaches, players and parents gave very positive reviews of the Godrej Properties-Pune FC Futsal Cup hosted at the Freekick Football Turfs, the most important objective, as the tournament slogan ‘Seeding Future Stars’ says, was to promote grassroots football in an age group that is otherwise starved of competition. In addition, it was encouraging to see high-profile sponsors such as Godrej Properties, Relispray, Fruit Shoot, Adlabs Imagica and Star Hospitals among others throw their weight behind this initiative.
Take aim and fire!
We hope to see more such tournaments being organised across the country to give young footballers the chance to shine.
Leave a Reply