Tag: Grassroots Football Lessons

From Anantapur to the I-League

ASA I-League Preparation Camp

Mahogany FC Boys During Training at ASV
Source: ASA

With inputs provided by Maxon Sequeira

Over the last few months, we’ve had the opportunity to track the good work that Rural Development Trust (RDT) has been doing for football in Anantapur and neighbouring areas in Andhra Pradesh. Under the watchful eyes of Head Coach, Miquel Llado, the boys from Anantapur have been putting in the hard yards in training and it is nice to see that their efforts are gradually bearing fruit.

As testament to their progress, Anantapur Sports Academy’s (ASA) senior-most player, S Bhaskar Reddy, is already playing in the 2nd Division I-League club representing Fateh Hyderabad AFC. Not only that, several of the boys from Anantapur Sports Academy (ASA) have been selected to play for Fateh Hyderabad AFC’s youth teams in the  U18 I-League and U15 Youth League. To help the boys prepare well for the leagues, Anantapur Sports Village (ASV) Football Academy hosted an exchange camp with two teams – Mahogany FC from Chennai and Ozone FC from Bengaluru earlier in December.

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Insights From Children: On Punishment

As coaches & parents of incredibly energetic, dynamic and active children, patience is the one attribute we cannot leave behind at home before stepping on to the training ground. There are, however, those odd days when we are really at the ends of our tether – it could be tensions from home or work or just an ‘off’ day when we’re ‘not up to it’. Even the best have them. Those are the times when we, as educators and mentors, are most prone to yelling or punishing the kids. It takes a lot of control to hold oneself back, not scream and do the ‘right’ thing. The lesson for us is clear – and it’s not like we don’t know – screaming & punishments are mostly counter-productive and useless.

But children have a way with words and an ability to drive home the message in the most unique way. This is one fantastic example:

:) Have a great day!

Written with inputs from Samira Kumar.