Former India footballers Abhishek Yadav, Deepak Mondal and S Venkatesh are men on a mission that has only begun.
In a bid to provide the kids of today what they were deprived of as kids themselves, the star trio have initiated a football academy - Football School of In dia (FSI) - at the Dr Pillai Global Academy in New Panvel on Thursday. And not surprisingly, the academy has already received an overwhelming response.u00a0"Our aim is to give today's kids what we never got during our growing up years - state of the art training facilities and the opportunity to play on a brand new artificial turf surface at Dr Pillai's. For now, we only want the kids to enjoy the game. We can think of producing quality players for the country later on. The fact that over 150 kids have already registered with us is a very encouraging sign,” said Yadav, who is also the president of FSI and currently represents I-League outfit Mumbai FC.u00a0
Three to tango: Former India footballers S Venkatesh (left), Abhishek Yadav and Deepak Mondal (right) during the inauguration of their academy in Nerul, Navi Mumbai recently
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The fact that the trio perform different roles on the field, is an added advantage. “The three of us makes for a a heady mix as I play as striker, Venkatesh is a midfielder and Deepak is a defender. Kids will hence be trained in specific areas,” added Yadav. Venkatesh felt Indian kids will be better trained under local coaches than foreigners, who currently operate under the banner of big international clubs.u00a0“The only difference between an Indian coach and foreign one is the latter's international exposure. But when a kid takes to the game, all that is needed is to strengthen his basics and for this an Indian coach. Later, as the child grows, a foreign coach can step in to hone his skills,” the Pune FC player explained. u00a0Mondal meanwhile cannot wait to pass on to the kids all whatever he’s learnt at the international level. “We’ll ensure we share all our international playing experience with these boys, and they can only benefit from it,” he said. u00a0
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