India’s first of a kind Youth Champions League is set to kick off this October and will be held at FSV Arena in Hennur, Bangalore. The competition will provide young kids in the age groups of U-12, U-10 and U-8 the opportunity and platform to fulfill their dreams of becoming competitive professional footballers.
The YCL will be held over a number of weekends and will feature a total of 540 players in 12 franchises owned and sponsored by the top corporates in the city including Harley Davidson. The league will be played on smaller pitches and has been designed to allow kids lots of touches of the football along with a number of dribbling opportunities without the weight of expectations on their shoulders.
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The main focus of the league, after all, is maximum development with minimum expectation.
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Charles Hayward, director of YCL, envisions a future where kids in India can train and play competitively from the nascent stage, like their European counterparts. Hayward, in fact, came up with the concept of YCL after his child, who was immensely interested in the sport, was unable to play more than 2-3 tournaments competitively per year.
“From our own experience as parents, we have noticed that kids who want to take up football professionally, don’t have enough matches to play. In the school level, they get just about three matches a year and that’s not enough to nurture their talent,” said the 46-year-old.
While the tournament is currently restricted to Bangalore, Charles feels that expansion is possible in the future under the right circumstances. “What we’re doing is restricted to Bangalore only because of the infrastructure. This is not a small undertaking, this facility is the best in the country as a facility. “ he declared.
Charles also feels that although Bangalore has a couple of international quality stadiums, not many people have access to them and this is where his venture comes into the picture.
The launch was attended by former Victoria FC and Belenenses defender Rui Pedro Gregorio. Gregorio, who was also involved with Arsenal Football Academy as a training director, will be heading the Football Academy of Bangalore where over 100 kids will be trained to play in a professional footballing environment. Players from the YCL, in fact, will also be selected for the academy.
“Back in Portugal and specifically Lisbon where I come from, kids begin to play football at the age of five or six years. There is great infrastructure with over hundreds of pitches and kids play matches on weekends. They begin to learn technicalities of the sport only at about 10 or 12 years of age but by then they would have picked up the skill.
“I believe this league will give kids that kind of platform and I see a lot of potential in India for football,” said Gregorio.
The launch also featured the unveiling of Asia’s first Goal Station which is considered to be the world’s ultimate training and development system. It is designed to help players, amateur and professional alike, to enhance their SMARTS™, Speed, Mobility, Awareness, Reflexes, Touch, and Strength.
The Goal Station is in fact only the third of its kind in the world and was developed by Brian Sorenson, head coach of a Danish Women's professional team ranked no.5 in the world. The GST is equipped with the most advanced Ball training machine in the world and Fitlight, a wireless sensory device controlled through an I-PAD.
The Fitlight software puts players in a number of in-game scenarios and helps test their skill, accuracy and other key physical and technical aspects. One-touch passing, dribbling, passing, set plays, shooting can all be tested. The data acquired is in fact transmitted to the I-PAD which displays the relevant information and helps coaches and players make informed decisions based on the same.
Brian, in fact, with the help of GST, took his team from no.20 in the world to no.5 in a matter of a couple of years and attributes his entire success to the training system.
Coming to the tournament itself, it is set to feature 3 age groups. U-8, U-10, and U-12. U-8 matches will be 5v5, U-10 will be 7v7 and U-12 will be 9-a-side. The tournament will be played over a period of 3 months, each franchise playing a total of 22 matches.
The teams will be divided randomly and players with academy experience will be separated into different teams. Each franchise will be coached by licensed FIFA coaches.
A number of accolades will be awarded to players to reward them for their efforts. Player of the Match, Best Fan, Golden Boot and Golden Glove are a few among many. Each player will also receive a participation certificate.
While a registration fee of Rs. 250 is required, kits, socks, sipper cups, transport etc will all be provided by the league. Registrations can be made on the website. An orientation is set to take place a week before the commencement of the tournament which is slated to be in the middle of October.
