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Photos from Goa's 2009 mando festival:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/sets/72157622843319441/
Event on Wed, Thurs evening from 5 pm onwards, Kala Academy, Panaji-Goa
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Dear Vivek,
Wonderful article, that includes a look at past, present and promising
future.
But while Climax and the coaches stress the need for better training conditions
and
facilities for adult players, I feel one important aspect is being neglected,
and
that is the training of the young. By young I mean the very young.
In this respect, music and sports have much in common. Here in the west,
and
more recently in the Far East, children are taught music at a very early age,
beginning sometimes at the age of two. By the age of three and four, if they
have
promise, they are placed in the hands of superb teachers. By the age of eight
the
best of them are playing concertos at an almost-adult level. Just
think---classical
music was banned and destroyed in China during the Cultural Revolution. Once
that
dark period was over, however, the Chinese went after music with a passion.
Today,
just decades later, young Chinese violinists and pianists and orchestral
conductors
are among the world's top performers. Ditto for the Koreans. We in Goa have had
music in our blood far longer, but alas, except for Patricia Rosario, we have
no one
else in the same world-beater class! We start too late, have no world-class
teachers
of music (Patricia herself aside) and lack the passion as well, except in a
very few
cases.
As an example of the results that accrue from good soccer training, I need
only
cite the example of Natacha, an eleven-year-old girl of Goan descent, based in
Virginia, 140 miles south of Washington, DC. She began playing soccer five
years ago
at age six, joined a local soccer club and attended the club's training camps
every
year, and played with her team in soccer competitions that were sometimes held
in
neighbouring states.
Seeing her talent and determination, in spring of 2009 her supportive
parents
started looking for an "outside coach" and camps; in the summer she went to a
camp
at a nearby university. Natacha though small in stature is very fleet-footed
and
plays as what we used to call a forward; the preferred term today seems to be
"striker". Though she has had excellent coaching in the past, in October this
year
her parents found an even more proficient coach who makes the training fun; he
keeps
stressing the need for her to practice moves and ball handling every day, so
that it
becomes natural during a game. Her team coach this year is also good; he has
told
her she needs to work on her power kicking and has urged her to take more shots
at
goal herself, instead of trying to feed the ball to her teammates. Though she
was
the smallest player on the field, Natacha scored a goal in each of the last
three
games of the season and the coach wrote her a nice letter of recommendation.
Last
year's coach had said she has natural skills and plays at a high level and
beats
defenders in ways he hasn't seen at her age level.
Next summer, Natacha, who will be twelve years old by then, will be going
with
an all-American team to compete in the Gothia Cup 2010 International Soccer
Tournament in Sweden; this is a tournament in which, according to the
organizers,
1500 teams compete every year. When Natacha steps on to that field in Sweden,
her
team will be representing the United States, but in our hearts she will be
representing Goa as well!
Now the aim of the Gothia Tournament is not to identify world beaters but
to
promote international fellowship; still, the soccer one sees there is played at
a
very high level indeed. I would urge our soccer coaches and clubs in Goa to
take a
look at ways they can nurture our young talent, and groom a team to compete in
a
Gothia Cup International Soccer Tournament three or four years from now. It
will
help raise our standards and also give our youngsters the kind of highly
competitive
tournament experience they will need when the time comes for them to head for
the
World Cup. The upper age limit for Gothia is 18, I believe; but our people in
Goa
should check this out for themselves.
Best regards,
Victor
