JOIN USWith the aim of promoting football at the grassroot-level in South Asia, FIFA Futuro III Grassroots Instructor's Course, a six-day seminar, featuring participants from seven countries began here on Monday.
The seminar, which concludes on Saturday, is being attended by 18 participants — 12 coaches from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka — and six coaches from the India, nominated by the AIFF. Hosts participants include, Southern Blues coach John Kenneth Raj and women’s football coach Maymol Rocky from Goa.
The course includes how to organise tournaments for children and getting acclimatised to a much-improved system of training.
FIFA instructor Vincent Subramaniam and AFC instructor Chan Hiu Ming of Hong Kong will take the theory as well as practical classes during the seminar. “These coaches know their countries much better than we do. Through the FIFA and AFC modules, instructors will learn a more in-depth and systematic approach to popularising the game among children and spread this knowledge among colleagues in their respective countries,” Subramaniam said. “Special emphasis will be laid on life-saving skills and fair play,” he added.
The final day of the meet will feature a football festival where kids (boys and girls between six and 12 years) mostly from Parikrma Foundation, will join the coaches in seven-a-side and nine-a-side matches and fun-filled exercises to improve their football skills and technique.
Participants: India: John Kenneth Raj, Kundan Chandra, Surinder Singh, Hilal Rasool Parray, Tarun Roy, Maymol Rocky. Afghanistan: Eltafuddin Kahimi, Hayatullah. Bangladesh: Bayazid Alam Zubair Nipu, Qazi Altaful Huq. Bhutan: Ugyen Dorji, Chokey Nima. Maldives: Ibrahim Shafiu, Ahmed Shareef. Nepal: Kumar Thapa, Madhu Karki. Sri Lanka: Damodaram Chandrasiri, Don Gamini Nihal Madurawala.