SPORTING CLUBE DE GOA COMMEMORATE AFC GRASSROOTS DAY

GOA: While the parents happily watched from their seats, Sporting Clube de Goa successfully conducted their 3rd Grassroots Football Festival at Don Bosco ground, Panjim, on Sunday. The festival was held to mark the occasion of AFC Grassroots day which is on Friday the 15th May.

Eighty-four young wards between the age of 8 and 12 were divided into twelve groups of seven members and successfully completed the 2-hour festival. The event conformed to the guidelines of the FIFA Grassroots Manual.

The players went through a circuit consisting of six stations. Three of the stations were 7v7 games which the wards enjoyed playing immensely.

The other three stations involved workshops which comprised of fun games such as Hawk and Centipede, where the participants got to sharpen their football skills in an enjoyable atmosphere.

Each station lasted 20 minutes and included regular water breaks to replenish.

The Festival was conducted by SCG Head of Youth Development Mahesh Lotlikar and co-ordinated by Sporting Goa’s Competitions director Angelo Albuerquerque and Media Officer Aldrid Da Costa.

SCG Coaches Mathew D’Costa, Seby Noronha, Anthony Vaz and Norbert Gonsalves along with Clifford Chukwuma made the day go smoothly.

Volunteers Adewale Seriki, Nicholas Albuquerque, Raunak Pai, Lincoln Sagayanathan and Rajesh Pai also worked tirelessly to ensure the young wards never stopped smiling the entire time.

“Grassroots football is very important for the growth of Indian Football. The festival brings out the best in the youngsters diverse personalities,” stated SCG Head of Youth Development Mahesh Lotlikar.

“Apart from improving their football skills the players also learnt important lessons such as teamwork and respect as they were playing with new team mates for the first time and had to adapt quickly,” remarked SCG CEO Victor Fernandes.

Gfa Executive member and GFA Head of Youth Development Welvin Menezes was the chief guest, while GFA Executive member Anthony Pango was the guest of honour.

Sporting Goa stars Odafa Okoli, Mahmoud Al Amna and Anthony Wolfe were present on the occasion and gave lots of encouragement besides helping in distributing the participation certificates to the players. The participants were given a Flaming Oranje T-shirt and refreshments were also provided.

The SCG Grassroots festival is an extension of the clubs commitment to youth development, which includes the running of five academy teams and sponsoring various age group tournaments and School sports teams.

SALGAOCAR FC TO ORGANISE GRASSROOTS FESTIVAL TO COMMEMORATE AFC GRASSROOTS DAY ON 15TH MAY

Vasco: Salgaocar FC, the only I-League club to have a full-fledged Community Outreach Program will be organising a Grassroots festival on Friday, 15th May to commemorate ‘AFC Grassroots Day’ at the Chicalim Panchayat Ground. The event is scheduled to commence at 8 am and will witness children from the club’s Community Outreach Program, budding footballers from the club’s U-10 and U-12 teams and children from the club’s three partner schools, participate in the festival.

Coincidentally, the curtains came down on the club’s Community Outreach Program for the current season last month, having been spread over 22 Sundays in the year between October and April. In just the second year of it’s existence, the Program 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 Program. 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 tem players as role models and watch them in action when taken to the club’s home I-League games, 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 Community Program are inducted into the club’s renowned youth development system.

The club has already organised 2 festivals earlier in the year. The festivals offer the kids the perfect opportunity to showcase their skills with the small-sided games in particular bringing their competitive spirit to the fore.

MUMBAI FC & CSL TO CONDUCT GRASSROOTS FESTIVAL ON AFC GRASSROOTS DAY

MUMBAI: Keeping in mind the vision to develop football in the city and promote the game amongst the youth, Mumbai FC and Colaba Super League (CSL) will be conducting a Grassroots Festival at Cooperage Backgarden Football Ground on Friday – 15thMay, 2015 to celebrate the AFC Grassroots Day.

The Backgarden Ground is the venue where the CSL in association with Mumbai FC is being held and will see over a 100 kids of the age group 6 to 12 years old participate in the festival.

Football equipment for this event will be provided by Nivia.

CSL’s Chairman, Krishna Pawle said, “The Festival is being conducted in accordance to our vision to develop football in Mumbai. The CSL started last month and we also held a CSL women’s tournament where over 40 girls participated. The Grassroots Festival will see over 100+ kids participate which only defines how popular football is becoming.”

The festival will be supervised by Mumbai FC’s Head of Youth Development – Kundan Chandra – who will also have 10 Grassroots Leaders (Coaches) working alongwith him.

Chandra explained the importance of conducting Grassroots festivals, “Mumbai FC have been conducting Grassroots Festival across the city. It is important to give the children football education. Not only does it help raise football’s popularity but it sets a base to maybe even carve a career out of football. We aim to create ‘Young-stars’ in Indian football.”