In 2007 Sanjeev Parmar, owner of Parmar Sports Training Inc (a Canada-based soccer training academy), came to a small village in Punjab. He saw potential, willingness and a chance for the world’s No.1 sport to make a mark in a remote corner of the world’s largest democracy.

Fast forward to 2010, and Rurka Kalan has become the face of hope, change and passion for soccer in rural India. Youth Football Club (FYC) has brought many laurels to the area and state, including the Street Child World Cup win in South Africa. And it is in these promising times that Parmar is back in the village to add another twist to the tale. He, alongwith YFC president Gurmangal Das, have laid down a plan to come out with a DVD that will provide coaches with creative training sessions and cover the concepts of a proper dynamic warm-up through a number of creative drills. It will also cover technical development through game-specific drills and game intelligence through various small-sided games.

The DVD will be provided in Punjabi as well, which will help the coaches to understand the key concepts and coaching points of each drill and exercise. The DVD will be distributed free of cost to all youth coaches in Punjab and to any coaches in the country who are interested in gaining coaching insight.

Speaking about the project, Parmar said: “I’m excited to be a part of this project that YFC has envisioned. I believe we will be able to provide the coaches a good platform for providing their players with the required age specific skills to achieve success in the upcoming years. Our goal over the next year or so is to develop a second edition of this DVD so that the coaches will have 50 session plans in total.”

“The YFC project is becoming well known across the globe and is receiving amazing recognition from the Punjabi community worldwide. I am honoured to have a small part of this beautiful project, but the people who deserve the real credit are the volunteers and coaches in the community of Rurka Kalan who are providing the children with an opportunity to be successful in the real world.”

It is good to see that someone is finally waking up to the idea that the body, mind and ability of a child is different from an adult. Talent knows no age, but if not nurtured in the right way, it knows no direction as well.