Indian football: Interview with Arun Nanu, founder of SEPT

Interview with Arun Nanu, founder of SEPT (Sports & Education Promotion Trust-www.sept.in) Kerala. Hanan Javed and Anis Kaithara are products of the SEPT that are in the India U14 team and returned from the AFC football festival in Iran.

Harmit: Please give us a little background about yourself and how, why and when you set up SEPT?

Arun: I’m a 38 yr old ardent football fan. I hold national referee licence, however stopped officiating matches 3 yrs back, to concentrate more on SEPT. SEPT started its activities in 2004, which is based in Calicut. I entered into relationship with some like minded people through chat forum under Indian football.com , and or discussions realized the formation of SEPT.

Obviously, training programme’s at the grass root level is mandatory for any skill development, especially the one required to develop a soccer team, aiming to be of international standards. We tried and contributed for the development of this game

Hanan and Anis

Harmit: How many kids and centres does SEPT cater to now and how many kids and centres did it start from?

Arun: Presently SEPT has 22 centers with 540 boys , split into 2 age groups ( under 10 & Under 14). To start we set up 3 centers.

Harmit: Did you ever imaging, that your labour of love would grow into such a big organization that touched so many kids?

Arun: It is still not a big organization. Initially we want to have a centre in each state and then in every district of the country.We cherish the dream of brining SEPT in the very frontline, where coaching begins at the grass root level to develop children into full-fledged footballers. We are sure, on day, SEPT will be the first and best in the country

Harmit: Do the kids pay anything to attend the coaching classes at SEPT?

Arun: No, nothing. We don’t charge the kids.

Harmit: Tell us about how the SEPT kids have done at the various tournaments you have taken them to overseas? How did manage to pay for all those expenses?

Arun: Our boys participated 3 tournaments abroad ; Dalercarlia cup , Storsjocup ( Sweden) & Kokkola cup (Finland). We also had a friendly tour to Malaysia, were our kids played 5 matches.

It was a very good experience , both for us & the boys. We had adjustment problems with food , weather. But boys withstood all such difficulties . It gave the boys lot of confidence, they could play their game against any opponent without fear. Kokkola cup had teams participated from many countries including Latin America. When I personally discussed with team officials, it was really surprising to hear the facilities extended to their children at their training centers. We had nothing, not even a proper ground to train the kids.

Many thanks to GMR Infrastructure , Bangalore who helped us to pay for the expenses.

Harmit: Tell us a little bit about Hanan & Anis please. First, how old are they, their height weight, are they right or left footed, what kind of families do they come from?

Arun: We have 5 boys who are extremely good , Hanan & Anis got selected for the Indian camp , which gave them more exposure and specialized training. Both are now 14 years.

Hanan comes from an average income group and Anis is from a poor family.Their father’s are school teachers

Harmit: How long have they been with SEPT? How did they selected by the AIFF to represent India U14. How exactly does a child get selected for India U14.

Arun: They are with us since 2004, they learned how to kick the ball from SEPT.Both had represented India U-13, last year.First they played for their district, then state and got selected to the Indian camp

Harmit: What positions do they play in and what are their footballing strengths? How are they in studies and do they have any footballing ambitions?

Arun: Hanan plays forward position, he can strike hard the ball with ease, using both legs. He is identified to be the most talented player by the Brazilian coach, Mr. Greco Luiz. Mr. Greco had offered him training in Brazil, for which we are trying get financial support.

Anis plays as the right defender , he has the ‘killer instinct’ in him. He is a born player.

I think, he is good in the mid-field.Both are good at studies.

Harmit: At this age, what happens to India U14 team members. Are the kids given any supplemental nutritional allowances or do the kids get access to specialized coaching etc. via the AIFF?

Arun: Two months the boys stayed together at the national camp in Goa, facilities provided were very good.

Harmit: Skill wise would you say that Hanan & Anis are the best kids that you have seen with SEPT or are there more like them?

Yes we have 5 of them , who are as good as Hanan & Anis.But our Under-10 boys are very promising, and they are much better than these boys when these boys played under-10.

Many thanks for taking the time to speak to us.