With Don Bosco College to launch football clinics
JOVITO LOPES
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
PANJIM: Based on the philosophy – generate interest, nurture talent and promote talent – Mumbai-based KOOH (Kids Out Of Home) Sports whose vision is to make a difference to sports in India by focusing on grassroot level development, is all set to launch its programmes in Goa through cricket academies, football clinics at school level.
With the avowed objective of teaching specific sport skills with specialized coaching and premium infrastructure in schools to prepare students for competitive levels as well as building a strong athletic foundation for all students from pre-school to Grade 12 to foster sport adaptability and improving general fitness levels through world class coaching through experienced and specialized coaches, KOOH Sports director Chirag Patel oozed confidence that the specific programme is all set to be launched in some select schools, preferably in the Government sector since these children are somewhat at a disadvantage.
“We will provide structured sports curriculum in these schools and the training of the coaches has already begun with a demonstration being held at Don Bosco School, Panjim. The heads of the schools who witnessed the programme, displayed tremendous interest after watching the demo as the children displayed excellent hand-foot-body-mind coordination through special drills,” remarked Chirag.
“Our training philosophy is based on the principle of `athlete development’ covering students from six to 17 years. A salient feature is the performance analysis and personalized feedback since we are aiming at fitness and athletic development through individualised session formats. It’s age progressive training system which relies on unique talent nurturing system – AMPS (ability, monitoring and progression system),” explained Chirag.
The suave official disclosed plans to have football clinics in Goa for very young players starting at six or seven and going upto 18 years. “All practices will be based on fun games. The initial training is to make the kids get interested in the sport. Later, key football skills like passing, receiving, controlling, dribbling, shooting and tackling are to be dealt with intelligently followed by technical/tactical development – passing the ball, dribbling the ball, receiving the ball, shooting and tackling. The emphasis is on letting children to spend maximum time in contact with the ball and experiment themselves since the key physical development – improving basic motor skills like walking, jumping and running – is part of the basics,” added Chirag.
With the clinic objective being to develop football game intelligence through small sided games, the six-day programme is divided into three stages with the games helping beginners to adapt to basic football abilities. Small sided games are preferred as these offer more ball touches, more passes and more goal scoring opportunities offering an opportunity to become more rounded and complete footballers progressively. Ultimately, the curriculum helps develop greater awareness, peripheral vision, perception, decision making and execution as the ball is constantly in play. And, the structured and age specific session plan ensures progressive development.
Aware of the potential that cricket offers, KOOH plans to set up two academies in North and South Goa, since there is talent aplenty in the State. Chirag elaborated: “It will be a grassroot development programme to be undertaken after school hours. It is an age progressive (8 to 16 years) training developed by renowned technical experts from India and abroad. Often, the boys have skills but not the right technique. It will be undertaken by highly trained coaches who regularly undergo the Coach Upliftment Programme (CUP) which takes care of the generic view of products and services vis-a-vis the needs of the market.”
KOOH has selected Don Bosco College’s Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences as its coach partner following the initiative undertaken by its dynamic and progressive manager Fr Wilfred Fernandes and principal Dr Marie Raj. It has following alliances and advisory committees: Cricket partner Rajasthan Royals. Athletics partner Athletic Federation of India. Academic partner Griffith. Curriculum content Kid Fit. Country partner Australia Unlimited. Advisory panel: Ajit Wadekar, John Gloster, Andrea Thumshrin (German hockey player and coach), Paul Masefield (former English football player and TV presenter at ESPN). Brand ambassador P T Usha.
