Football For All
Posted by India - 30/11/2009
18th to 22nd November 2009. Coaching Camp.
Organized by KVSN and The Rotary Club of Nagpur
The Krida Vikas Sanstha Nagpur (KVSN) and Rotary Club of Nagpur organized a 5 day football coaching camp and cup for boys and girls from Slums of Nagpur.
The coaching camp was held at the St Ursula Girls School ground in Nagpur. The idea of KVSN Slum Soccer program is to use football as a tool in improving the lives and to develop the opportunities available to the local, state, and national level players. The Rotary Club of Nagpur works to develop educational and social programs in the city. The participants came from many parts of Nagpur, including local schools and many from local slums.
As well as some brilliant and exciting football during the camp, the children were also treated to a free daily breakfast and drink which was provided by The Rotary Club of Nagpur. The coaching camp started on the Wednesday 18th November and concluded on Sunday 22nd November 2009, with daily morning sessions from 8 to 10am. After coaching on the Saturday, all the players took part in a competition to find the best teams, with the 4 best moving forward to the semi finals which were held on the Sunday from 10.30 to 11.30am. The culmination of the football saw the best two teams competing in a final, which played in front of 120 spectators and many esteemed guests including the President of the Rotary Club of Nagpur. The spectators had stayed throughout the morning’s football to cheer on each team in the 5 v 5 tournament.
The competition was keenly contested with some outstanding performances by many of the players. Most importantly every player demonstrated fair play throughout, with each player showing respect to the opposition, the coaches and the officials throughout.
After the final had been decided, the children sat intently to listen to the speakers about the importance of social responsibility, giving your best, and the opportunities available to those who demonstrate good performance levels. One such example was Disha Lohabare, who is aged 17 and from Bhandara in Maharashtra. Last year she was selected to take part in the Homeless World Cup in Milan, Italy. Her excellent performances representing India at the competition meant she was awarded the Best Female Player of the tournament, a great accolade for one so young. She was invited on stage to collect a gift from The Rotary Club of Nagpur as a reward for her excellent achievement. The children in the audience saw first hand a perfect example of Dedication and Excellence in Sport.
The numbers of participants in the camp increased day on day, the first day saw around 50 children take part, with the final day seeing 85 enthusiastic players. The high demand for the coaching was in part due to the excellent coaching on offer. Three of the coaches during the camp have represented India in the Homeless World Cup. Chitra Turkar and Savio Andrew travelled alongside Disha to Milan, Italy last year, and they trained the boys aged 12-14 and 16-18 respectively.
Homkant Surandase travelled to Melbourne, Australia the year previously, and he put his excellent coaching skills to use by coaching the boys aged 15-16. Two further promising young coaches Shweta Koche And Vikas Sharma looked after the 25 girls, who showed excellent skills and enthusiasm in throughout the camp. Darren Wiltshire, a qualified coach from London, England, oversaw the coaching in each group and helped to prepare and design each session. After each day, the coaching was evaluated on how the session had gone, and how improvements could be made
After the coaching, tournaments and presentation of dignitaries had been completed all that was left was for the trophies to be presented, all of which had been kindly provided by the Rotary Club of Nagpur. The deserved winners were Byramji Town who had beaten their opponents Pachpaoli in a thrilling final by 6 goals to 1. Every player was then given an individualized Certificate for taking part in the Coaching camp, and that brought to an end a celebration of football in Nagpur. The coaches were also given experience certificates .
