Hours of training and hard work on the beach is paying off for St Joseph's High School (Juhu) who stormed into the quarters of the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) boys' U-16 Division IV inter-school football tournament at Azad Maidan yesterday. Given the lack of a training ground at their school premises, coach Henrique Rodrigues trains the boys at the nearby Juhu beach. And sweating it out across the sandy terrain has improved the boys' speed and skill.

"The boys practice twice a week at Juhu beach and their drills involve a two kilometer run besides stretching exercises and practice matches with senior players, who represent local clubs in the big leagues. It's difficult to run on sand but it helps builds their stamina. Also, after running on sand, it is a lot easier to run on hard ground, and this makes the boys a lot faster when they play in the MSSA tournament," explained coach Rodrigues, whose sole aim is to see the team earn a promotion into Division III.