Mumbai City FC had a memorable campaign in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) last year, storming into the semi-final with minimal stumbles. While they have retained most of their squad for the upcoming season, they also lay a lot of stress on their grassroots development programme which helps scout young talent with the potential to make it big in the near future. Recently, Dinesh Nair, the Grassroots Development Programme Head of the Mumbai team attended the ISL Youth Workshop held in Vashi, Navi Mumbai. In an exclusive interview with indiansuperleague.com, he shared his experience of the same and also elaborated on its influence.First of all, speaking about the workshop, Nair was pleased with the event and believed it was a pleasant learning process.“I think the ISL Youth Workshop went off very well. The heads of all the ISL clubs’ development programmes were over here, so there was a lot of knowledge-sharing; and from the league itself we gained some good knowledge about clubs like NEC (Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie B.V. - the youth academy in Netherlands), how they function with a minimum budget and how they take care of the whole setup. So yes, it has been a good learning experience for the team.”Nair also reckoned that the ISL has had a strong, positive impact on the football grassroots programmes in the country.“Before the ISL, there was nothing,” he admitted. “As in, grassroots were present but not evident in India. After the ISL was launched, there was a mandate on grassroots (initiatives), and all the clubs followed suit.”Delving into the details of how Mumbai City FC handled their grassroots programmes and their effects thus far, he asserted: “We are very passionate about our grassroots programme and it boils down from our owner and the CEO. We have done extensive programmes, we have done festivals, we have done leagues and last year itself we did more than 2500 matches at the grassroots (level). We’ve also done courses for coaches and I think it has given good results. Children turn up for matches in the stadium, the level of football has increased. Earlier, what used to happen was they would just kick the ball around; now there’s build-up from back, and there is intensity.”“And yes, after the ISL was launched, a lot of children have taken to football,” he added.Nair also explained what it takes for a youth player to move a notch higher and be part of a senior side.“A player has to be good in all departments; that is, be technical, tactical, and also be physically and mentally strong. It’s about the number of matches and the number of hours he has played. That is what we miss out on in India. When you look at the U-17 World Cup that is being played in India, the visiting players and teams that have come have played 300-500 matches, and here in India we hardly play 80 to 100 matches in the crucial ages between 6 and 16.”On being quizzed about parents who were apprehensive with their children taking up football as a career, Nair made it clear that the mentality was gradually fading away.“I don’t think it (allowing children to pursue a career in football) is a problem now because since the ISL has started, parents know that there is a future for children. Unlike when we played, now there are coaches, assistant coaches, goalkeeping coaches, analysts, doctors, marketing and a lot of other departments. So, even if the children don’t make it as players, they can look for careers in many other departments.”Nair also described how his team educated these parents regarding the grassroots programme.“At Mumbai City FC, what we do is along with coach education, we also do one-day courses for parents, where we get them together and educate them about what grassroots football is and how it is important. Parents are coming forward and we have many who come and support us; plus a lot of them are taking interest since the number of matches are increasing,” he concluded.