Interview with coach Ivan Martinez

The young Spanish coach has achieved a lot many wouldn’t have dreamt of at his age. In his early twenties Ivan Martinez is a coach with whole hearted dedication towards development of youth football around the world. As a member of the Arsenal youth set up, Ivan was one of the coaches sent by Arsenal to India to train the thirty three kids selected for the finals of the Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars programme.

Debanjan: Hello sir, could you tell us something about yourself?

Ivan Martinez: I am a football coach. I was studying and now have taken a year off. I run my own sports company where we work with different sports, but we are mainly associated with football. I also work at Arsenal Soccer Schools and Arsenal Soccer Academies.

Ivan Martinez

Debanjan: Have you ever played professional football before?

Ivan Martinez: Never played as a professional in my life. Only in Sunday leagues. Seriously speaking, I was never good enough.

Debanjan: What inspired you to take up coaching as a career? How did Arsenal come about?

Ivan Martinez: Well, when I was about fourteen years old I was asked by my PT teacher to take up a junior sport leadership award. This was my first introduction to coaching. Teaching different kids core movements in using different kinds of sports equipment and volunteering to coach a local girls football team at my old primary school was how it all began. Then I went on to do my coaching badges.

Debanjan: What is your view on the type of programme being undertaken by Tata Tea as a corporate and Highlife Management as an event organiser?

Ivan Martinez: I think it’s a brilliant idea. It’s the right step forward. Given a country like India, with a lot of disadvantaged kids and not many provisions, I really think this a start to something that could get the ball in motion. Not only in football but also for other more popular sports like cricket and tennis. In India it’s all very elite. If you don’t have the right money, you can’t afford to go to a tennis school or a proper football pitch. From what we see, there is some really good talent and by giving these kids an opportunity, some of them could actually take up football as a career. I think this is all really very positive.

Debanjan: You have coached kids of the same age group back at home and you have now coached the selected kids here. How would you compare the two groups? Do you think there is a huge difference in talent?

Ivan Martinez: I honestly don’t believe there is much gap in the talent. The gap is in the development. In the seven days we have trained these players, we have brought them out of a shell. We have taught them how to play proper football. We have developed them like how a child should be developed. Talent wise, I have the same age team at home, and I reckon it would be a very tight game. It’s the way in which you develop the kids that matters.

Debanjan: What have you observed over the period during which the kids have trained under you? Where do you think Indian Football is heading with the current talent in hand?

Ivan Martinez: Judging by the talent available and given an opportunity the future looks bright. If projects like these can happen to provide an opportunity for a child to shine, Indian Football will benefit. It is very similar to the situation in England. There kids get to the age of 12-13 and find it difficult to get into an academy, to play proper youth football with academy coaching and later on becoming a professionals. If you can provide that window for them to get viewed, then it’s a job well done!

Debanjan: Of the thirty three children training under you do you think any of them have the potential to make it big someday? Maybe to some European Club or some top club in the I-league.

Ivan Martinez: Yes definitely. I definitely believe a few of them have the potential.

Debanjan: This your first time in Kolkata, as well as in India. How do you like the city? Would you like to come back again?

Ivan Martinez : I think it’s brilliant. The heat is lovely. Not when you are working, but when you are relaxing! The people who have hosted us have been more than supportive. A big thanks to them. They have given us an opportunity to coach abroad, which is a learning curve for me at a young age. I think it’s something which helps me grow. I have never coached abroad before and it has been a big challenge for me as well.

Thank you very much for your time.