Always wanted to acquaint your little ones to a zesty game of football? Here’s your chance. With international football academies like Paris Saint Germain academy, Boca Junior football school, Arsenal soccer School and the like making their way into the city, this next one is inspired by Dortmund, and free of cost.
An offering by the Football Academy of Bangalore, located in Hennur, it sprouted out of an innate desire to hone city talent and kick up a storm! “This whole idea transpired months ago, when a realisation struck us hard. In Europe, on an average, kids play a minimum of 50 soccer matches. So, by the time they are 15, they would have played about 500 to 600-odd matches. Also, if you observe, the talent in India and Europe until the age of 10, it’s the same. The disparity emerges only post that age, due to lack of adequate training and resources. This is our way of offering a leeway to promising football players in the country,” opines Rizwan Yenepoya, co-founder of the concept.
Enrollment into the league comes along with zero charges, enabling talented children even from backward and underprivileged backgrounds to give soccer a shot.
Targeted at children falling under the three year age brackets, U-8, U-10 and U-12, the youth champions league also offers complimentary equipment and kits to promising regulars.
“By making participation free, we want to offer most options even for kids, who otherwise wouldn’t have joined. There are about 12 teams now, named after popular football players and leagues. Since, the whole aim revolves around discovering and seizing optimum talent, we have tied in with BBMP run schools, so that the kids there could drop by and give this sport a shot,” adds Rizwan.
With the next session all set to start in the month of May, parents and little soccer stars in namooru are stoked. Differentiation, that are products of social constructs, is blurred here, Priya Menon, a city-based lawyer and proud parent of Treia, a football champion and striker adds, “The truth is, football options are still very limited. Aside from making time and effort to hone your child’s skill, finding the right coaches and focused kids is challenging. Hence, I personally vouch by the arrangement as it’s not driven by fringe commercial benefits. The ‘no charges’ factor draws in the right pool of talent, and I think that’s a very socially relevant idea to encourage children who really have it in them to give it their all.” Echoing similar views to her mama, Treia, a student of Greenwood High, quips, “I’ve always loved football, and have been playing since I was three. Why should boys have all the fun? I like the fact that the sport makes me feel stronger!” Adam F, a 9-year-old student from Bishop Cotton Boys School believes it’s something he looks forward to.
“Unlike school, it’s not only a particular group of children you mingle with. Participating in the league gives me the opportunity to meet others my age, who are equally interested and excited and come from different schools.”
Conceding how the arrangement pans out, Mark, Ada’s father adds, “The focus is on football and the youth, and I appreciate the fact that the city is taking baby steps into getting children exposed to a healthy yet real sport environment. Also, the fact that state-of-art facilities made available for kids irrespective of whether they can afford it or not, should hopefully incite the change we wish to see — a steep rise in the participation at International levels.”
