Just For Kicks: Opening up new avenues for grassroots football in India

Just for Kicks is providing a new platform to youngsters

Grassroots football has been the topic of debate amongst everyone involved with Indian football over the past few years. With the National team in a dismal state, ranked at 167, everone’s idea to improve is from the bottom and start a fresh.

The newly formed Indian Super League (ISL) has attracted a lot of foreign players to help promote the game in the country, but when quizzed on what needs to be done right, the answer has always been the same: “Grassroots”.

The birth of academies over the past decade has been immense and while many have failed to sustain in the long run, a few have made steady progress in providing a platform for the colts in India.

‘Just For Kicks’ happens to be one of many such setups, but with a very distinct idea attached to it. Unlike the various soccer schools and academies the country has, this fledgling organisation focuses more on the development and nurturing of youngsters with the help of football.

While the center does invite UEFA A-Licensed coaches for proper training, Vikas Plakkot the CEO belives that there is more than just football happening at JFK.

“The low income schools in India do not have adequate facilites to provide extra curricular activies and hence the kids are missing out on various skills to develop their personality. It was with this idealogy that Just For Kicks was born. We are focusing on building leaders with the help of football and further incorporating life skills among these kids,”

“We began with teaching children in Pune and now slowly we have expanded to four cities- Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. We are not an academy or a training center for football. We are looking to improve education in these schools and ensure that these young kids are adding skills of leadership and hence helping them develop a better personality,” the founder added.

The center has so far completed 5,000 coaching sessions and has attracted 80 schools to join hands with JFK, which were previously neglecting sports as a part of their curricular.

Despite being limited to just four cities at present, Vikas is in no hurry to expand the idea to other states. “The idea is to keep the quality intact. We don’t wish to rush into things.”

“Our goal is to reach 1 million students by 2025. In the next three years we want to identify a sustainable and replicable model model and only then we will look to expand the project to other states. We are only focusing on quality till 2018 and then go viral.”

Children are being exposed to regular practice

Recently, the Just For Kicks initiative has also joined hands with various clubs in India as well as in the UK, with Crystal Palace most recently expressing interest in the idea.

“We began with a tie up with Pune FC and then the Arsenal soccer schools, where ten of our kids were sent to train in their setup for free. Later we approached ISL side Mumbai City FC and the best students from our centers were placed in their youth setup under the guidance of experienced coaches and better facilites. Premier League side Crystal Palace has also shown a key interest in our initiative, and we have decided to send our ten best prospects to London to train with their youth side, gather experience and further learn a whole new culture.”

Vikas and his team have also started the ‘School Football Championship’, a league based tournament within four cities with more than 200 teams participating. The matches are to be held on the weekends.

“The idea is to provide continuous opportunities of playing to these young kids. This is how they will learn more about life skills. We can’t have a cup where if a team loses they get eliminated and do not get a second chance. Life gives you a second chance and this is what we follow here as well.”

Spread in the U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14 and U-16 category divided between boys and girls, the tournament has attracted a lot of interest from all sectors. A dedicated YouTube channel will be used to provide highlights whereas Radio One 94.3 FM has also decided to provide airtime.

Celebrities like Lisa Hayden and TV presenter Joe Morrisson have also heaped praise on this newly formed initiative, tweeting about their experience.

The most eye catching factor about JFK though is the idea of owning your club. With more than 150 teams involved, the JFK team have introduced the concept of allowing companies to buy clubs which is further helping them to avoid financial debts.

“Startups and corporates have come up and bought teams. More than 90 teams out of 150 have been sold so far. The cost of becoming an owner is as little as 15,000 and that involves mentoring and guiding the team, supporting the team during games. Providing coaching and facilities remains our duty.”

If you are interested, you too can own a team – https://milaap.org/campaigns/jfk

While funding has been a major issue for most of these initiatives, Vikas is confident that with the right backing his JFK project can continue in the long run.

“Companies like BookmyShow, H&R Block have extended support and are funding teams. In schools we charge a nominal fee of Rs.4500 for a year, that amounts to around Rs.80 per child per month,” he concluded.