GOA. The mere mention of it brings to mind - sounds of laughter, music and waves on sandy beaches. And of course - football. A state as small as Goa, both in land mass and population (at less than 2 million, most big Indian cities have more people than all of Goa) has a long and proud history in football. One only has to scan through the names of current and former football players of the Indian football team to see how many sons of Goa have donned the Team India colours.
By having an active second and third division league, Goa has ensured that the love for football is channeled into activities and games on the football field. And that helps in unearthing of young talent.
In our continuing look at youth focused football projects across India, we spoke at length to Mr. P.K. Mukherjee, the managing Director of SESA Goa, the company that runs the SESA Goa Football Academy. Read, enjoy and be proud of the passion for quality that comes through in Mr. Mukherjee's interview. Mr. Mukherjee and Sesa are shining examples of what is possible in India.
How did Sesa Goa get involved with football?
In the 1960's Sesa Goa was under Italian management. Some of their executives seeing the love for football in Goa, organized a match between Sesa employees. The Italian executives liked the enthusiasm and the skill level of the employees and launched a football team.
However, with the advent of the National Football League and the practice of importing some overseas players, the cost of running a football team became financially onerous. Moreover we're also not very happy with the way the football administration was running. So, in 1998 the company had no choice but to disband the football team.
But we decided, that we must continue to find a better way to support football in Goa and in India. So we decided to open up a residential football academy where we could train and nurture the local young football talents and attempt to produce disciplined/healthy citizens if not football stars for Goa and India.
We see this as a better use of our resources than paying money to foreign players - mostly sub-standard, as that would not help the development of football in India in any shape or form.
Please tell us about the number of students, their age groups, and the facilities and the training at the academy?
The Sesa Football Academy is located in Sanquelim, Goa. It has been built on reclaimed mining land. We have a total of 30 boys (trainees), that are divided into a senior and a junior batch of 15 boys each. We induct 15 boys every alternate year.
The boys that are admitted to the Academy are done so at the ages of 14 to 15 years. All of the boys go to the same school until they decide between the Science, Arts or Commerce streams.
Trainees stay at the Academy for a total of 4 years.
In terms of facilities, we have a company doctor that visits the Academy every day. We have a standard football size turf, a smaller turf, a gym, a room for theoretical football training, another room for tuition for school studies, a canteen and of course the common room, where the trainees can play carom, chess, table tennis, watch TV etc. A lot of football DVD's are shown to the boys.
We do not charge the selected children a single paise for the food, stay, books, uniforms, shoes, tiffin for school from the canteen, bus transport to and from the school. All these expenses are borne by the company.
We insist that the boys do not bring any money from home either.
As far a training is concerned, we work on a 6 day training schedule with the boys. The trainees are imparted scientific and cardio vascular training. Physical fitness, endurance and strength, technique and tactics, match performance and actual play on the field, football theory and knowledge of football is systematically covered in the training. We have light running exercise on alternate days, gym on alternate days and 6 days a week, after school the boys practice from 3:30 to 6:00 PM. On Sundays, the company arranges for the boys to go the Church or temple, as the case may be and the parents also come to see their children.
We have two coaches, Vishwas Gaonkar and Anthony D'Souza who look after the boys. The coaches with the Academy are State and International Players apart from being Sesa Goa SC players. They are qualified coaches with Diploma and License and have also represented the state of Goa as State coaches. They carry with them vast experience and have produced International players at Junior and Senior level. The Chief Coach of the Academy, Mr. Gaonkar has been an AIFF selector. Besides all the aforesaid, the coaches are the permanent employees of Sesa Goa.
What age group of boys do you look for when selecting them. Why are the ages on the high side when compared to overseas academies where boys as young as 10 or so make it to residential academies?
It is unrealistic to compare the ages at which young boys get into academies overseas with India. In the Indian setting, taking boys less than 14 years of age is unfeasible due to social circumstances.
We need to take boys that can live away from their parents and siblings, in a hostel like setting. And in India, in our experience that happens mostly at around 14 or 15 years of age.
Are there any plans to expand the intake at the Academy?
At this time there are no plans to expand the pool of 30 students.
Does the academy take in boys that are solely from the state of Goa?
We are a business based in Goa so when we started the academy in 1999 (one year after the SESA team was dis-banded), we focused on Goa alone. Even today all the 30 boys are from Goa but there is no official restriction as such. Any young boy from anywhere in India can be considered for admission for the Academy, but considering multi linguistic and multi cultural society in India across various states, homogeneity of the boys to develop as a well knit team is best achieved if all are from similar background.
Who are some of the big stars of the SESA Football Academy that have made it in Indian football?
Without question, the most famous product of the SESA Football Academy is Micky Fernandes!
The top SESA Football Academy cadets are:
a) Micky Fernandes - Salgoacar SC (International)
b) Milagrio Medeira - Salgoacar SC, Vasco SC, presently with Salgaocar Sports Club (Junior International).
c) Bernardo Pires - Salgoacar SC, East Bengal Club, and presently with Churchill Brother SC
d) Gerard D'Mello - Salgoacar SC, presently with Sporting Clube de Goa (International)
e) Anthony D'Souza - Sporting Clube de Goa
f) Lavino Fernandes - India U20.
g) Rowilson Rodrigues - Churchill Brother SC (Junior International)
h) Tyson Caiado - Churchill Brother SC
i) Denzil Franco - Salgoacar SC, presently with Sporting Clube de Goa (International)
j) Godwin Diego Franco - Churchill Brother SC, presently with Sporting Clube de Goa (Junior International)
k) Ashley Fernandes - Churchill Brother SC
l) Steven Fernandes - Sporting Clube de Goa (India U20)
m) Raymond Marques - Sporting Clube de Goa (Junior International)
n) Terence Lobo - Velsao Pale SC (India U20)
Can you name any future stars that are with the Academy and that you have high hopes and expectations from?
There are 6 key players from the current set of 30 trainees that are very promising (we don't want to name them now as that may have negative impact on other boys). Many clubs have already set their eyes on them. We direct all such inquiries to the players or their families after they graduate from our academy. We want the families to speak directly to the clubs and get any potential deals sorted out. Academy does not look for any commercial gain, well placement and the future growth of the boys are only satisfaction of the Academy Management.
What are some of the biggest achievements of the football academy in terms of age specific titles etc that they have won?
The Sesa Football Academy started out in the 3rd Division football league in Goa. We won that division and moved to the second Division, we won that and moved to the first Division. The Academy also participates in various age group tournaments - the achievements are:
U17, U18 - Champions
U19, U20 - Champions
Goa State Games Champions
Taca Goa U20 Championship
Qualified for 1st Division where all trainees were U18 and maintained our position in the 1st Division standing 3rd.
That is how the players got noticed and that kind of exposure helps in both getting attention and exposure as well as developing confidence.
How do you see the future of football in Goa and in the rest of India?
We have lots of talent. What we are missing is professionalism and a passion for this game. I see football as a performing art. How can one succeed in performing arts without passion or professionalism?
There are some professional administrators in the game in India but we need more. Our football academy is modest but sincere effort at improving standards in India. We need more of such residential academies to improve standards in India.
What do you think about IndianFootball.Com and its work?
My son told me about this website and he is a big fan and admirer of this website. Keep up the good work!
Many, Many thanks Mr. Mukherjee for all your work for the betterment of Indian football over the years and for the time taken for this interview.
the interview was conducted by Harmit Singh Kamboe (November, 2006)
