The coaching convention organised by the Association of Indian Football Coaches (AIFC) in collaboration with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) concluded on Thursday evening in Navi Mumbai. The event, which consisted of the ‘Indian Football Coaches Convention’ (23-24 July) and a masterclass for coaches (25-26 July), witnessed participation from several Indian coaches from the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) and eminent coaching professionals across the globe.

Renowned speakers share their knowledge

Tom Byer and Dr Ryland Morgans conducted the masterclass session for the coaches from the Hero ISL. Byer is a renowned expert in grassroots football and is recognised for developing the grassroots system in Japan. In an exclusive interview with indiansuperleague.com, the American spoke about his thoughts on the current state of Indian football.

“I believe Indian football has been developing over the last 10-20 years. If you look now, even your national team is doing much better with Stephen Constantine who has done very well; and with the Hero ISL, again there is a lot more excitement and a bigger dream for kids to play football,” Byer said.

He also touched upon aspects that could be improved. “I guess one of the weaknesses is that the competition needs to be raised. The level of the players, that I always speak about, the culture - there needs to be more of a football culture at home that understands the importance of technical skill development.”

Dr Morgans, who served as the Head of Fitness and Conditioning at Liverpool FC, conducted a series of theory and practical sessions covering training approaches, football endurance and speed. He shared his insight in the interactive session which he had with the coaches on the importance of fitness in the game.

“It’s my first time to India, so it’s been very welcoming. (My) first time presenting on any form of conference here in India and what I would say is that the coaches have been very insightful and there has been some really good discussion and debate. They had some forward-thinking type of questions which then stimulates the debate from myself and within the room as well. So, it’s been a really good opportunity to discuss these concepts of fitness performance and coaching with the Indian coaches that I have met. It’s been good.”

Enhanced learning for participants

Dinesh Nair, Director of AIFC and Head of Development at Mumbai City FC, gave us his thoughts on the four-day convention and the learnings he took away. “Overall, it went very well. The coaches are happy, excited and the learning is not only during the masterclass or at the conference when the presentations are on. The learning is also during coffee and tea breaks where a lot of discussions happened. It has been good and we at AIFC are happy that the first convention went off well.”

Naushad Moosa, Head Coach of the Bengaluru FC reserve team, was full of praise after his experience at the convention. “There was a lot to learn. If you see, there were so many coaches who had come. It was really nice because we had so many good speakers come for the convention and then if you see the masterclass, there is so much to learn. The way, the approach towards a training session, how professional you can be and so on.”

For exclusive video interviews from the AIFC convention, follow Hero Indian Super League on our social platforms.

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2018-2019