For 12 long years from 1999 till 2011, Renedy Singh was such a regular fixture along India’s left flank that fans took his presence there for granted. The Manipuri winger-midfielder often caught the eye with his bustling presence along the flanks, probing long balls, whiplash crosses and uncanny prowess from dead ball situations.

The 35-year-old graduate from the Tata Football Academy, earned 72 caps for the national team and also turned out for some of the nation’s leading clubs -- Mohun Bagan, JCT and East Bengal being some prominent examples -- winning several honours and titles for both club and country along the way.

Renedy has now gone down south for the first time in his career with Kerala Blasters FC and is gearing up to win more laurels with the Kochi-based outfit. Perhaps, his expertise in free kicks could prove to be the game changer for the David James-managed team in its quest to win the inaugural Hero Indian Super League (ISL).

Renedy has been practising taking free kicks since he was a kid. The sizzler he scored against Syria in the 2009 Nehru Cup final which India went on to win via the tie-breaker, is still talked about today. So how did he come to acquire this expertise?

“David Beckham was the best and that is how I started to follow this aspect of the game. Every day after our training sessions, I used to kick about 50-100 balls regularly. I know now that it is not good to kick 50-100 balls a day but I didn’t back then. Alternate days would be the best but I did it every day. And after kicking that many balls from a spot your confidence goes up,” he revealed to Indiansuperleague.com.

Renedy may have been inspired by the former England and Manchester United icon, but he has other free kick specialists in his book of likes too. They include Juninho Pernambucano of Brazil and Andrea Pirlo of Italy. He dubs Japan’s Shunsuke Nakamura as the best free-kick specialist in Asia and has had the privilege to play against him.

Currently, president of Football Players Association of India, Renedy is happy about the advent of the ISL for the myriad benefits that it will bring along, especially with respect to the grassroots programme which has been made mandatory for the clubs, and the improvement and refurbishment of the grounds. “The ISL will enable all eight teams to focus on the grassroots programme, which is the best thing for Indian football,” he reasoned. “The ISL can also bring in a lot of quality players which is very important because these quality players will draw in the crowds, and that is what I am looking forward to.”

“You can always learn from the quality players. There is nothing better than learning,” he stated, proving that there is no end to learning.