Development of grass root football in India has gone a long way in recent years. With an increasingly interested youth and substantial corporate support, the talent for tomorrow is on its way to be unearthed. A special mention in this regard must be made for Tata Tea and Highlife Event Management who have successfully managed to organize a nationwide football tournament on a yearly basis, involving schools from around the country.
The Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars, a football tournament and coaching programme, in association with Arsenal FC, is an initiative to bring to the forefront the crème de la crème of Indian Football from schools around the country. The tournament saw more than four hundred schools from ten cities taking part on a regional basis, of which ten were selected for the national finals held in Shillong earlier this year. Airforce School, Subroto Park, New Delhi emerged champions.
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Saurav Chatterjee, the CEO of Highlife Management once said “We at highlife think different and act accordingly”. Hence, the story did not end with the completion of the national finals. On course of the event ex-Iranian footballer Jamshed Nassiri, a well known name in the Indian footballing circuit, handpicked thirty three talented youngsters for a coaching camp conducted by Arsenal coaches in June, this year. The camp held in Kolkata, saw the selected kids train at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club, availing the best of the European methods of training and technique imparted by the two Arsenal coaches Kurt Maginely and Ivan Martinez. The seven day camp saw intense competition to impress for the sixteen slots on offer for a trip to the UK to take part in the Arsenal International Soccer Festival to be held in London. A lucky draw using quiz cards was conducted at each of the venues of the tournament to keep the crowd involved. The three lucky winners will be accompanying the chosen sixteen on the trip to London. The contingent is due to leave for the UK on the 30th of July and with the kind of talent on display we can only expect greater things.
Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars programme is part of Tata Tea’s enhanced focus on the issues that concern the youth of this country. In its constant endeavour to demonstrate leadership amongst the Indian youth through football, the company is also looking at identifying and nurturing talent at the grass roots level. All done in the hope to create a social awakening in the Indian society that ‘Your kid could one day become the Sachin Tendulkar of Indian football’.
