Hidden away from the mainstream media, is a football academy in Mumbai that has had ex-Chelsea players coming every 6 months to coach, train and check on a football experiment. This football experiment is being tended to by Garreth Hall, David Lee, Clive Walker, all ex-Chelsea among others.
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We spoke to the founder and Chairperson, Sherley Singh to get additional insight on the Indian Tigers Football Academy. Shirley is a post graduate of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management studies, Mumbai, MBA program and has been involved in many different ventures. She is also a Trustee for Uddan, a charitable organization for under-privileged girls. Her husband is Raju Singh, the noted Bollywood composer and song writer.
Harmit : How did you come up with the idea of a football academy?
Sherley : I did not set out with the idea of a football academy at all. It was an outcome of not being able to find a proper football program for my son a few years ago that led me to set up Indian Tigers. About two years ago, when my son was 13, he was passionately into football and wanted to become a football player. I looked around for a football coaching program for him and was disappointed with the options that I saw.
There were no year round football programs in the city. At school, sports are followed on a calendar basis. Football is played from the start of the new year to October//November when cricket takes over.
Then as luck would have it, I ran into some folks from the Chelsea Old Boys network. They have been invaluable in assisting and taking Indian Tigers where it is today.
Where does the Indian Tigers academy runs its coaching centres?
Sherley : At the moment we have two centres, one in Juhu and one in Kandivli, both in Mumbai. The Juhu Centre is the new centre. About 6 months ago, we had just 2 kids and now we are upto 40 kids. I am thinking of opening additional centres in the city and have received inquiries for setting up franchise centres in Baroda & Bangalore.
How easy or hard was it set up thing on the ground?
Sherley : I would say that two things were the hardest to get during the set up phase.
The first thing was access to goo quality age based coaching material. We overcame this by our association with the Chelsea Old Boys network.
The second handicap was the lack of equipment. Things like hurdles, poles, parachutes etc are not available at your standard sports shops. We had to get in touch with companies that export material from India and overseas suppliers to get supplies in order to run a professional football program.
How frequently do the coaches from the Chelsea Old Boys Network come down?
Sherley : The coaches come down every 6 months. Their stay usually lasts for 10 days and they check on how the kids are doing and adjust the coaching curriculum as needed. They also interact with the local coaches to make sure everything is progressing well.
Our biggest advantage of being a year round program is that we are able to follow on the advice of the Chelsea Old Boys network diligently and our children and local coaches have shown tremendous improvement.
The Chelsea coaches run 2 sessions (different set of children of course) of 3 hours each per day when they are here. They try and stick to a ratio of 25 kids to one Chelsea Old Boys coach.
They have run free sessions for children from MagicBus, a local kids focused NGO and I can’t thank them enough for that and for the assistance that they have provided us, so far. The kids and the local coaches are always eager and look forward to their visits.
What kinds of kids attend your camps?
Sherley : We have children from all age groups that are divided into age based groups. We are probably the only sports project that has a U6 group of children. I think Indian parents are realizing that a focus on just studies is not how to grow a child. India is changing and so are the attitudes of parents toward sport. I think over the next few years, football in particular will see even bigger growth in India.
We have a 50/50 split between children who can afford to participate in our football program and those who cannot. We are just shy of breaking even and I do not mind as the joy the kids from a not so well economic background get is more than what money can buy.
What would happen if your son would not longer have passion for the game?
Sherley : Indian Tigers has grown far beyond that now. It has acquired its own momentum now. When I look at all the kids, I see so many other kids that have found an identity for themselves, found a passion for the sport and made so many friends through this program. I could never dream of closing down India Tigers.
The local coaches manage the day to day activities so from a time perspective, I do not really need to set aside too much time either.
The visiting staff from the Chelsea Old Boys network have been really impressed with some of our kids. If we were not in India, quite a few of them would have been picked up by clubs already. Nothing would please me more than to find success for some of the kids at our academy.
Many thanks for taking the time to speak to us.
Indian Tigers Football Cub Home page: http://www.indiantigers.co.in/
