Deepak C M, grassroots officer, Kerala Blasters FC, thinks tangible results will flow from grassroots initiatives after 5-6 years.I’ve been in football coaching for the last 18 years. I’ve worked at the Universal Soccer Academy in Calicut, then earned my AFC ‘C’ license, and last year, I attended the All India Football Federation clinic in Navi Mumbai as well. I’ve also been appointed a grassroots leader by the Kerala Football Association. So it’s been a long journey in football coaching, and now I’m going to be working on grassroots programmes with the Kerala Blasters.Your team’s focus on grassroots football: It’s very nice that it’s mandatory to focus on grassroots for every club in the Hero Indian Super Leauge. We’ve never focused on that in India; perhaps, only in the last 2-3 years. It will take some time, and we can hope to get some tangible results after 5-6 years or so, but I think the owners are taking this very seriously.If you see, in Brazil, only two out of 1,000 are picked as youth footballers. People here talk about finding one in 10, but it never happens because talent is always hidden. We’ll try to reach out to as many children as we can, and I’m sure we will find some good talent.Your views on the Hero ISL Grassroots Workshop: I think it’s been fantastic. Everything was very well organized and the sessions were great. We loved working with the kids as well, because they were full of enthusiasm and gave everything in every session. I have to say that there were many things we didn’t know about grassroots football, and the ideas that Scott (O’Donell), Piet (Hubers) & Co have discussed have really helped us, and we will implement their ideas in Kerala.Your grassroots vision: A lot of academies start grassroots programmes very early, but they don’t really know how to teach kids. The same sessions would be held for senior as well as junior kids, but that never works. The correct method of training young children is totally different. Now we’re learning the correct way, and realizing that it’s more about letting the kids get acquainted with the game and enjoy themselves. It’s a great thing that the AIFF and ISL are doing, and hopefully, we will see its results in some years.I must add that football, in my opinion, is a great teacher of life lessons, more than any other sport, which is why I call football the “School of Life”.Your city’s unique advantages & disadvantages:I think we all know that Kerala is very passionate about football. We saw that during the last Federation Cup as well, when they accepted and supported the tournament in big numbers. We are expecting huge turnouts for our games in the ISL as well. Our franchise is also associated with Sachin (Tendulkar) and that’s a big advantage for us as well, especially, as he’s shown so much passion for football.Perhaps, the only disadvantage or challenge I can think of is the issue surrounding stadiums. Our home ground is a multi-purpose stadium, so perhaps cricket and football can go hand in hand!Your team’s immediate grassroots plans: The entire team is focusing on 2-3 districts already, which are very passionate about football, and then we’ll eventually reach all (14) districts in Kerala and hold sessions with at least one lakh kids. I hope we do well!
