Hero Indian Super League side Mumbai City FC recently collaborated with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to hold a grassroots workshop at the Vidyadhiraja School and Junior College, Bhandup in Mumbai. The workshop took place from February 5-7 and had theoretical as well as practical sessions. It featured a total of 27 participants out of which 12 were girls. The chief instructor for this grassroots workshop program was Mr Dinesh Nair.It was conducted in a reclaimed salt pan with the majority of its participants being from the junior college itself. The participants are now expected to run football sessions for the younger children in the school and community.All three days of the workshop saw it being divided into theoretical as well as practical sessions. Day 1 of its theoretical session covered program introductions, grassroots philosophy, SSG’s, importance of SSG’s, the game is the best teacher, characteristics of participants/age groups, 4-v-4 and 5-v-5 presentations, pedagogical approach with GR session, fair play and racism, while practical sessions involved 4-v-4 and 5-v-5 games.Theory sessions of Day 2 covered coordination agility and motor skills, 7-v-7 presentation, nutrition, a GR training session: organise, animate, content and assessment, basic skills of football, 9-v-9 presentation, laws, fundamentals as well as injury prevention and management. The practical sessions covered 7-v-7 and 9-v-9 games, basic skills of football, children’s games linked to football, coordination agility and motor skills. The final day saw participants being asked to organise a grassroots festival which included picking different coaching roles, designing the festival, conducting theory sessions before the festival and managing the festival while looking into every miniscule detail. The grassroots festival conducted at the end of the work shop was attended by 94 children with Mumbai City FC jerseys being handed to every student that participated in the festival.