The Phoenix Sports & Leisure Group (PSL) India has been working to develop grassroots football in India over the last few years. They have set up organisations like Soccer Connections and Just For Kicks (JFK), where they coach children in football, talent development, and life skills. While JFK is focused predominantly on transforming education in low-income schools by introducing football to them, Soccer Connections aims to provide focused, fun, and family-oriented football training to children under the age of 12. They conduct their training sessions in affiliated schools, or on professional playing grounds.
Category: Schools & Academies (page 3 of 4)
Anantapur, once a crucial part of the Vijayanagar Empire, is now a primarily agrarian district with a developing industrial sector. Plagued by drought and poverty, the district is one of the 13 that receives funds from the Backwards Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGFP) in Andhra Pradesh. For many years the people were left quite hopeless, until Vincent Ferrer and his partner Anne decided to start the Rural Development Trust (RDT) in Anantapur in 1969 to improve the quality of life of the rural poor and the underprivileged in the area.
Apart from the work done to educate the people, and uplift the poorer sections of society, the RDT takes a special interest in using sports and cultural activities to give children a holistic education.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) U-17 team won the Subroto Cup earlier this month, and were awarded the trophy by none other than football legend, Pelé. Although AIFF had a humble beginning in 1937, the organisation has come a very long way since then. The AIFF Technical Director is former Australian football player, Scott O’Donell, and the Federation has plans to spread their wings further, and really touch the lives of youth through their Academies and training programmes. While the win is surely a feather in their cap, AIFF maintains that youth development is not at all about winning.
Football-loving brothers Saahil and Sanil Desai decided to set up FutureStars Football Academy (FSFA), a grassroots football academy in Mumbai in 2012. Their motivation behind opening the academy was to take their passion for football to the next level, and give young children a chance to be active while falling in love with the beautiful game. The brothers started playing football at a young age, and today they hope to pass on this love to all the children who come to the Academy. GFI had a chance to interview Co-Founder and Director Saahil Desai. Here’s what he had to say.
Every young footballer dreams about making it to the big leagues. Every child starts playing football as a hobby, but for some, football becomes their whole life. U Dream Football is a program that helps those individuals who want to make it big in the football world. The program works under the guidance of Bundesliga and in association with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. The U Dream Football program started in 2014 to scout for talented individuals who were Under-15, but had a flair for football. After screening more than 10,000 students in over 800 schools across the country, program coaches from Germany shortlisted 15 of India’s finest U-15 footballers, and took them to Germany earlier this year to train at the club’s youth training academy in Zuzenhausen for the next 6 years.
In a country like ours, where cricket has almost become a religion, it is refreshing to see people with a passion for football sharing their love with children. Atul Gupta and Arpreet Singh Bajaj are two such individuals who decided they wanted to pass on their fondness of the sport, and they both quit their jobs in finance to start Soccer Schools of Excellence (SSE) in 2010. They set up SSE with the aim of providing young sports enthusiasts in India with a complete football education. While over 800 children have signed up for their various classes through the week, SSE is hoping to reach out to more NGOs in the future, and touch the lives of those who are not as lucky as them through football.
SEPT Football Nursery
“Those days, back in the 1990s, a footballer from Kerala was looked upon with awe,” remembers IM Vijayan, a native of Kerala and one of the greatest footballers India has ever produced. Reminiscing further, he says, “You guys are tigers, they used to tell me. Outstanding talents just continued to flow out of our tiny state. The quality of our players surprised everyone. We had V. P. Sathyan, C. V. Pappachan, U. Sharaf Ali, K. T. Chacko, Kurikesh Mathew, Mathew Varghese, Jo Paul Ancheri…”
It’s true. There was a time when Kerala footballers even formed the majority of the Indian national team. “I remember having around nine players from Kerala at an Indian camp,” says Vijayan. “And there were occasions when five of us actually made the eleven.” Since then, there has been a mighty fall from grace.
YFC Rurka Kalan
Image Credit: YFC Rurka Kalan Website
It’s the year 2001. The sleepy hamlet of Rurka Kalan, about 40 kilometres from Phagwara in the state of Punjab, is plagued by crime and substance abuse. Almost an entire generation of youth are squandering away their futures. Enter Gurmangal Dass, an electronics engineer, who has returned some years ago from the US after giving up a promising job – a man with a vision for brighter future and a steely resolve to free the village from the clutches of drugs.
Cut to the present – the year 2015. Youth Football Club (YFC) Rurka Kalan now has centres spread across 9 villages in Punjab, touches over 10,000 lives, houses a 5,000 seater sports stadium, operates in the areas of education, sports, health and environment and, amazingly, offers every single service at no cost whatsoever to young people in need.
This is the story of YFC Rurka Kalan – much more than a grassroots football club.
No glitz. No glamour. No film personalities (yet). Just a quiet, determined focus on football. Meet the latest entrants to the world of professional football in India – Fateh Hyderabad Associated Football Club (AFC). Slated to be part of the Second Division I-League, Fateh Hyderabad AFC is set to put Hyderabad back on the map after a long break away from professional football in the country.
However, unlike most other clubs in India, Fateh Hyderabad AFC will adopt a bottom-up approach where the majority of their investments will be plowed into creating an ecosystem that allows the sport to thrive. Led by Columbia University-educated Yogesh Maurya who is also a private equities professional, the club has its sights firmly set on the long term. Rather than a mad scramble to qualify for the First Division I-League at the very first attempt, Fateh Hyderabad will focus on youth development and developing good infrastructure for football in the city to flourish.
Team U Dream Football 2015
Image Credit: U Dream Football
In a first-of-its-kind initiative in India, U Dream Football backed by Ronnie Screwvala, will take 15 boys aged below 14 years to leading Bundesliga club, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, for a 6-year training program on full scholarships. The boys were chosen after U Dream Football coaches scoured the length and breadth of the nation over a year during which they covered over 1,000 schools spread across 45 cities.
© 2024 Grassroots Football India
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑