With a move to nurture sport in football-mad Manipur, various organisations and individuals have come up with camps to instill and train budding football players.
Like Samsui, who wants to play soccer professionally in future, around 80 students from various schools of Ukhrul hill district in Manipur got an opportunity to learn the basic techniques of soccer at Patkai public ground, which was initiated by the Patkai Christian Academy.
Patkai Christian Academy in Ukhrul district has been propagating the culture of football to the school-goers in the district.
The 15-day long district Inter-school winter football coaching camp was conducted under the leadership of Khareithan Phungchamnao, the camp director and also a well-known national football player.
""From when I was young, I was interested in playing football and I wanted to improve the skills, so I decided to join this camp. We have learned most of the basics here like how to control the ball and many other football techniques," said Samsui AK, participant.
The first of its kind camp was aimed to promote the game of soccer to young students, giving them basic training of football during their non-productive idle time after their exams.
The camp also aimed to keep the youngsters away from indulging in intoxicating activities and give them the platform to identify their talents and build a sense of team spirit.
"What I feel the most is their talents are dispute everywhere without purpose. So now to tap the talents into a professional streamline, I want all the schools, which is the strongest institution and the church and the concern NGOs to come up and support this kind of activities. Then only, we can see some changes," said Phungchamnao.
The young football enthusiasts were trained and supervised by six national football players, who are also the All India Football Federation D-Licence certified holders.
The campers were trained on various technique and pitching styles like heading, kicking, ball control, and passing.
Parents termed such activity as a healthy practice. And to tap the untapped potentials of the youngsters, the organizers aim to continue such camps during the school vacations.
"The kids are really into the football. They think, eat and talk for football. They are very much interested in playing football but due to lack of infrastructure and facilities for them to train, they couldn't go far. So, it is my request to any associations, government who can come up and help to set up for football academy in the district, so that the younger generation can get the opportunity to perform and nurture their skills," Reisangmi Vashum, technical director of the football camp said.
With Sports Authority of India and North East Council assisting the camp through technical and financial support, the campers were able to access to various sports gears and engaged in standardized football training.
As more and more youngsters from the region are aiming to explore various fields besides the conventional white collar job, introducing such camp is also a way to nurture and produce more professional players from the northeast region.
The spirit of sports especially soccer will continue to flourish in the region as more and more youngsters opt the game.
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