PANJIM: Salgaocar Football Club, the only I-League club to have a full-fledged community outreach programme will be organising a grassroots festival to commemorate the “AFC Grassroots Day”, on May 15, at Chicalim Village Panchayat ground, from 8 a.m.
The event will witness budding footballers from the club’s under-10 and 12 teams and children from the three partner schools, as part of the programme.
Coincidentally, the curtains came down on the club’s community outreach programme for the current season last month, having been spread over 22 Sundays in the year between October and April.
In second year of its existence, the programme attracted close to 600 girls and boys in the age group of 6 to 11 years and has been very well received by children and parents alike. The fact that kids travel from as far as Ponda and Margao to Vasco every week is testimony to the success of the programme.
The children are trained by the club’s highly qualified and experienced coaches and first team players. Given that the children look up to some of the first team players as thier role models and watch them in action when taken to the club’s home I-League matches, it is extremely motivational for them to turn up every Sunday and share the field with their heroes.
The basics of “The Beautiful Game” are imparted to these budding footballers using techniques that are both fun and engrossing. The most talented boys from the programme are inducted into the club’s renowned youth development system, states the Salgaocar Football Club’s press release.
