JOIN USOzone kicks off new venture
Lack of proper football academies to nurture and develop talent at the grassroot level has troubled Indian football for a long time.
As a step towards addressing this problem, Ozone FC Bengaluru, the latest addition to the city’s footballing community, launched their residential academy on Saturday.
Located at the Mathagondapalli Model School campus in Hosur, the Ozone Football Academy has a tie up with the school, which will be their educational partner.
“Since the day I came to India a year ago, I have been laying emphasis on this. If a nation does not have well-equipped academies to nurture talent, then it is very difficult for it to grow as a footballing nation. I have seen this in India. Players have missed out on years of playing time because they were not tapped at a very young age. But with Ozone Group coming up with their residential academy, I hope that things could take a positive turn soon,” said the former Italian defender Marco Materazzi, who now is the head coach of Chennaiyin FC, the Indian Super League side.
The Ozone Group is the principal sponsor of the ISL side, co-owned by Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan who also accompanied his team members Jeje Lalpekhlua, Karanjeet Singh and Harmanjot Singh Khabra, for the launch.
The academy, situated inside a 76-acre campus, includes two full sized playing fields, apart from a changing room, medical centre, a multi-sport indoor court and a dormitory that can accommodate close to 300 students.
Talking to the media on the sidelines of the launch, Bert Zuurman, the head coach of the first team and the technical director of the academy, said that it will be targetting players from the age group of four to 17, with the course being divided into four — U-11, U-13, U-15 and U-17 — categories.
“We are looking to get in kids as young as possible. I think if a player is brought in at the age of 14, he has already lost 10 years of football experience.
“Something that can never be achieved again. And here our youngest player is five years old. We have been having this academy programme since 2010, with trainings being held at various locations. But now with a residential campus, things can be more organised and we can restrict our movements to one place,” said Zuurman who is a UEFA ‘A’ licenced coach.
The academy houses 34 students from states like Goa, Chandigarh, Manipur, Karnataka and Kerala, playing in the U-17 category, while players for the other categories will be picked in the coming months.