Jamshedpur: Sporting oversized jerseys, over 700 children, in the age group of three to 12 years, learnt some basic football skills at Sumant Moolgaokar Stadium in Telco on Sunday, thanks to JFC mentors.
To groom children in football from an early age, Jams-hedpur Football Club (JFC) organised its first JFC Grassroots Festival with Hill Top School students at the stadium from 8.30am to 6pm.
Kundan Chandra, an accredited FIFA instructor, along with other leaders imparted basic football training to students divided in four groups - U-5, U-8, U-10 and U-12.
HR & IR head and admin, Tata Motors, Ravi Kumar was present as the chief guest on the occasion.
"Today we just taught the children some basic football techniques like agility, balance, co-ordination and decision-making. For kids under five years it was just a fun game. Our bigger aim is to train the children so that by the time they are in their teens they are ready to compete in national competitions," said coach Chandra.
In the coming days Gulmohur High School and Mount Litera Zee School will also organise the JFC Grassroots Festival.
JFC CEO Mukul Choudhari said there was unlimited scope for a child in the field of sports. "When children are trained from such an early age they learn team work and can polish their decision-making skills. We are approaching more schools for JFC Grassroots programme but it also depends on their location and proximity to training centres," he added.
Parents were equally excited to see their kids kick the ball in small goal posts specially designed for them. "These kids are really privileged to get such an opportunity. I think sports should be made mandatory in the school curriculum," said Tata Motors employee Dipankar Chakraborty, who accompanied his son Deepit to the ground.
Principal Puneeta B. Chouhan sounded equally happy. "It's a huge opportunity for all the students and who knows one day a Jamshedpur boy might play the FIFA World Cup," exclaimed Chouhan.
