Premier Skills phase 2 training of youngsters ends with football pointers
Kolkata: The Premier Skills phase 2 training in Kolkata ended with a bright and energetic football festival with 80 children from the city being taught the basics of football.
Their teachers were the 45 grassroot coaches from across India who successfully completed the Phase 2 training.
The festival was kicked off by British Deputy High Commissioner Bruce Bucknell, Manmeet Singh Goindi, Regional Director, SAI and Debanjan Chakrabarti, Director British Council East and Northeast India.
The children at the football festival were from ATK and NGO Help Us Help Them.
The organisations, which work with children who play football, like Shreeja and Fun Pickle were also part of the week-long training and children from the NGO, Samaritans, also took part earlier in the week.
Head coach Jeremy Weeks elaborated on the training saying that the focus had been on community development and basics of coach education. The phase 3 of the programme will take place in January 2019 in Kolkata.
The hugely successful Premier Skills initiative, run by the Premier League and the British Council, had 45 grassroots football coaches from Sports Authority of India and affiliated institutions across India, participated in the Premier Skills Phase 2 training course between September 18 to 23.
The selected coaches have completed the Premier Skills Phase 1 trainings in Delhi, Bengaluru and Guwahati and will now undertake this intensive training in Kolkata.
The course in Kolkata was jointly organised by the British Council, Premier League, Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and will be delivered at Netaji Subhash Eastern Centre in Salt Lake, Kolkata.
Throughout the week, the forty-five grassroots coaches, almost a third of whom are women, received expert training from qualified Premier Skills staff. These coaches will now return to their local community football projects and can use their newly-acquired knowledge to encourage and aid development.
The Premier Skills Phase 2 training in Kolkata was led by Premier League Coach Educator Jeremy Weeks, and was supported by UK Club Coaches Jonathan Garside from Everton FC and Dominic Edwards and Rakim Richards both from Tottenham Hotspur FC. They were joined by Premier Skills coach educators Malvita Mascarenhas and Clinton C from India.
Over the past ten years, 1,100 coaches and referees in India have received training through the Premier Skills programme, who in turn have reached 90,000 young people with their delivery.
