Let us Change Indian Youth Football - Start from Scratch!

cleatbeatcleatbeat 0 Points
edited June 2012 in Youth Teams
First of all, let us introduce ourselves. We are Cleat Beat, India's first football magazine started in 2010. We focus on development of the game in India. What we have noticed on this forum is that people mostly talk about Indian football and as far as we are concerned, talk is cheap!<div style="font-weight: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">We have seen several initiatives that are supposed to develop Indian football. Bringing in foreign coaches for 10 or 15 day coaching camps, opening Manchester United & Liverpool schools that few can afford, and focusing on a sub-standard I-League are the biggest reasons why the money is not flowing in the right direction in Indian football. People are looking at India's growing middle-class as the "biggest market" for football. That means, we buy their shirts, their merchandize and go to their stadiums to watch their games - Where is the development in all this?</div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Then there's the bit about setting up FIFA-AIFF academies. How many people train in these academies? 200? There are over 400 million children in India and these academies account for less than 2000.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">So here's what we are doing:</div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">The concept is simple - Indian engineers and doctors are the most sought-after in the world because we are the best. Why? Because every year, crores of students struggle to get into these courses and lakhs are taken, of which the top few are considered the cream amongst all engineers and doctors in the world.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br></div><div>What's wrong with football? Forget the I-League and the Under-19s, there aren't enough children playing the game in the first place! Between the age of 4 and 16, how many children play the game? We need more children playing the game and more coaches coaching it in the <b>right</b> way. How do we do it? Well, we don't know about you but here is how we <b>do</b> it.</div><div><br></div><div>1. We have a magazine that highlights the best practices from all across the world. We tell you how European football works not so that more people read our magazine, but so that more people realise that <b>that</b> is how football needs to be played. We give away the magazine for free so that people don't think we are doing it for the money.</div><div><br></div><div>2. We give out free training exercises and drills so that coaches can constantly learn new things and stay with the times. Knowledge is the most important thing in football and our coaches tend to hate learning because they feel they already "know" everything they need to know. This attitude needs to change and that's we are hoping to do. Again, its free of advertisements and money - so that no one thinks twice.</div><div><br></div><div>3. We give out free footballs to children in Primary Schools from second and third tier towns. Why? So that they start playing it when they get home. Every kid gets a football so that they don't fight over one ball and every kid can go home and play on their own. <b>That</b> is how players are created, not through academies where they play three times a week for an hour.</div><div><br></div><div>4. We are training people to become coaches and training coaches to become people. We are not trying to make 1000 Ronaldo-like players - we are just trying to get children to enjoy the game and even if they don't become pro-players, at least they can become better human beings. Coaches receive these training sessions for free!</div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">What we would like to see is some less talk and more action. Is there anyone out there who's willing to help us out? If yes, please get in touch - there are plenty of ways to do so! </span></div>
«1

Comments

  • cleatbeatcleatbeat 0 Points
    Here are some interesting facts:<div style="font-weight: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">While we go around searching for the best talent all over the country, through these Airtel and Manchester United nonsensical deals, here's the reality!</div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Bayer Leverkusen is said to have the best academy structure in Germany. They have 160 players in the 8 to 21 age-group, who are the cream of the crop. 85% of their academy players come from within 80-kilometres of the academy. Another 13% come from the rest of Germany while the remaining 2% is from the rest of the world.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br></div><div><b>Every initiative does not need to cover all of India. </b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Secondly, to raise the standard of football, the worst player has to become better. Why? Because when you keep raising the lowest standard, the people above need to keep improving to keep themselves at that higher pedestal. That automatically changes the way the game is played and the quality of the players.</div><div><br></div><div>These are two fundamental mistakes we make here in India. We have been looking at discussions on this forum for almost two years now, yet not one discussion actually highlights solutions. Sure, we all know youth football needs to be improved and blah blah blah, but who does what?</div><div><br></div><div>That's what we want to see.</div>
  • spartasparta Jamshedpur FC2074 Points
    Hey, you might be doing great things in the offline world but this is a online forum where you can't go to field and teach people on how to do stuff. These two mediums are totally different.<br><br>
    <br>
    IFN is a great source for people to discuss about Indian football and
    there are good amount of people out here who are into Football
    administration at club levels so they do try to implement ideas which
    people give here<br><br>Also, as an admin of several websites I found your post here a bit spammy coz you are advertising yourself here. I think very few members know about what you do and you could have introduced yourself or your company in the introduction thread rather than spamming here. <br>
  • silicon3silicon3 351 Points
    cleatbeat wrote:
    First of all, let us introduce ourselves. We are Cleat Beat, India's first football magazine started in 2010. We focus on development of the game in India. What we have noticed on this forum is that people mostly talk about Indian football and as far as we are concerned, talk is cheap!<div style="font-weight: normal; "><br></div><br><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">What we would like to see is some less talk and more action. Is there anyone out there who's willing to help us out? If yes, please get in touch - there are plenty of ways to do so! </span></div>

    <br><br>@ Cleatbeat ... you have wonderfully summarized on how DNA of a Football nation can be grown, how it can get truly popular and played by the masses in India.. What you have  enlightened us  is seen in d football crazy countries like Brazil . Argentina, UK Germany Nigeria etc. Maximise your base of football loving children /youth and down the years we will have enough of a base of choose quality and talented players.. <br><br>but does that mean we really stop doing everything else.?.. stop  AIFF academies or Palian Arrows or Stop like minded football fans commenting on this forum.. <br><br>you are doing great work with the magazine, free training  and all .keep it up  but i  wonder why this sudden outburst on this forum?.<br><br><br><br><br>
  • cleatbeatcleatbeat 0 Points
    As for the moderators and other members, the sudden burst and introduction is given as a symbol of our existence and the truth in what we are saying here. For over two years, we have been monitoring this forum and, honestly, nothing concrete has every come out of it. It is all a lot of talk. What is surprising is that for the number of people who write on this forum, I don't know of any who do anything.<div><br></div><div>The AIFF, I-League and so on discussions and football activities shouldn't stop, but that's not important if you want India to play in a world cup sometime in the future. That's like saying, I want to win an Oscar but won't bother learning how to act, just think about how nice my movies would be.</div>
  • cleatbeatcleatbeat 0 Points
    sparta wrote: »
    Hey, you might be doing great things in the offline world but this is a online forum where you can't go to field and teach people on how to do stuff. These two mediums are totally different.<br><br>Also, as an admin of several websites I found your post here a bit spammy coz you are advertising yourself here. I think very few members know about what you do and you could have introduced yourself or your company in the introduction thread rather than spamming here. <br>

    <br><div><br></div><div>To reply to your points - You are telling us that the online world isn't the place to teach people stuff? All the knowledge shared online, all the coaches and quality of information you have access to is unbeatable.</div><div><br></div><div>As for our "spam" comments - what is spam about what we are doing? We have written what we are doing for Indian football to justify our anger against "talkers". India is a country of arm-chair critics and we want that to change. So what is so wrong or "Spam" about that? Also, self promotion would matter if we were trying to make money out of it - unfortunately, the concept of "free" doesn't seem to tell you that we are not interested in advertising-funds, considering there aren't any on our website.</div><div><br></div><div>So what exactly could our purpose be but to try and give people more knowledge about football and the way its played?</div>
  • shankarshankar 2600 Points
    I read just 3-5 post of @cleatbeat but already is a fan of you guys...<div>would love to know more of your ideas on youth development and youth structure for country and club,may be i will try reach it to few who could make it reach further to real life implementation</div>
  • rudrarudra 2958 Points
    <br>
    cleatbeat wrote: »
    <div><b>India is a country of arm-chair critics and we want that to change.</b><br>

    <br></div><div><br></div><div>So, all Indians need to be master of tactics and need to know how 10 yr old kids are trained??? What a joke...</div><div>Ever heard about a word FANDOM? let me remind u all this football buisness, moden coaching, and football education revolves around this word FANDOM, without it everythings a waste....its because ppl like us waste our time to discuss, scout, crib, go to stadium, fight, troll the game is alive otherwise all ur coaching stuff will be in drain....</div><div>Remember One thing -</div><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5">NEVER CRITICIZE A FAN FOR BEING A FAN</font></b></div>
  • cleatbeatcleatbeat 0 Points
    Well done Rudra - you have just said the one thing that epitomizes the general understanding of the game in India. You think football coaching is meant to produce world class football players? Do you even know how far down the "wrong road" you are thinking?<div><br></div><div>Youth football coaching is about teaching LIFE-SKILLS through football. Less than 0.1% of the players who are being coached today will go on to become professional football players. Your ideas of "modern coaching" are more primitive than you think. The world has moved miles beyond your thought process.</div><div><br></div><div>You are only thinking of the top-level because your vision is limited to that.</div><div><br></div><div>Football coaching is much more than just teaching someone how to pass the ball or dribble. You create leaders, develop the ability to work in a team, instill confidence in children, give them social skills and prepare them for life. The problem is, most coaches in India think like you because THEY think football coaching is about the fans.</div><div><br></div><div>You cannot sit on a couch and be a fan, when you are a coach. You cannot shout when something goes wrong, when you are a coach. The children see you and you set an example for them. You cannot let your energy levels drop, you cannot let disappointment show on your face, you cannot scold someone for doing wrong and you cannot let winning become your main objective. </div><div><br></div><div>For a fan, their team must win for them to be happy. Some who understand the game a bit more also look at how the team played. That is it - they buy merchandize, most don't even do that, and they switch the channel after the match is over.</div><div><br></div><div>Coaching at the top-level, yes, maybe it might be for the fans but at the youth level, fans don't do anything. But let me tell you this - there are only a handful of teams that play at the top. There are 10,000 times that number of children who are being coached around the country, most of them wrongly because their coaches think exactly like what you said above.</div><div><br></div><div>Its a shame that the thought process is like this... Once again, Thank you Rudra for bringing out this important aspect! At least now this forum is finding the guts to discuss something meaningful! Lets see how many we can stir out of those chairs and bring out onto the streets for action!</div>
  • rudrarudra 2958 Points
    wtf are u trolling this forum, when did I say the following?<div><br></div><div>- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">You think football coaching is meant to produce world class football players?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Your ideas of "modern coaching" are more primitive than you think. The world has moved miles beyond your thought process. <b>WHAT (wtf) ARE MY IDEAS?</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><b>- </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Thank you Rudra for bringing out this important aspect? <b>THE ONLY ASPECT I BROUGHT OUT IS YOU ARE IRRITATING US</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><b>- </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">At least now this forum is finding the guts to discuss something meaningful! - <b>do we even need to answer that?</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><b><br></b></span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Man, in my profession, my boss will tell u this -</b></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b>YOU ARE ANSWERING A QUESTION THAT HAS NOT BEEN ASKED</b></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b>period. ooooffff</b></span></font></div>
Sign In or Register to comment.