IndianFootball.Com Interview: DEVARAJAN IYER

Bangalore has a global reputation as city that is aggressive in winning new business, undercutting competition and being a leader in cutting edge Research & Development. But football in Bangalore though is far from the leading edge. HAL, Bangalore's entrant into the NFL, has not made much of an impact and a lot is left to be desired in bringing football culture back to Karnataka. In the old days of Mysore, the state had brought-up a number of internationals.
However, it isn't all doom and gloom for football in India's Silicon Valley. Many firms take part in the numerous Futsal tournaments and a number of school tournaments are held.
In addition to all of this, IndianFootball.Com meanwhile was able to catch up with Devarajan Iyer, the Brand Group Manager for ITC Foods on how the Sunfeast brand was making foray into football through the SPT Sports Academy. To know more about how one of India's leading companies intends to make a connection with the children, the current status and future plans, read on.

Please tell us about where the football Academy is located, facilities, number of trainees, their age and a brief background of the coaching staff?

The Sunfeast - SPT Football Academy is located on Sarjapur Road, Bangalore.

Facilities:
Football ground, Golf driving range (7 acres)
Mini football ground (for under-7 years)
A second football ground is under construction

Trainees:
At present there are about 35 children attending the coaching sessions in the age group of 7-14 years

Coaches:
1] Thomas Legg, FA (UK) Level 2 certified with teaching experience in the US and Africa
2] Ravi Babu, AIFF "C" certificate. Played for NFL teams - Vasco SC, Indian Bank, HAL, ITI.
3] Andrew Louis, a TATA Football Academy cadet. Represented India at the Asian Youth Football Championship, represented Mahindra&Mahindra, ITI, Indian Bank teams in NFL.
4] Veerash Kumar, Assistant Coach.

The Sunfeast - SPT Football Academy provides coaching 4 days a week including practical and off field sessions. An audio-visual program and on field skill demonstrations are part of the academy program.

Is this a residential academy where trainees actually stay at the Academy? What is a typical day at the academy like for the Trainees and how many years will the trainees stay here?

Sunfeast - SPT Football Academy is not yet a residential academy. The coaching is held 4 days a week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday with each session of minimum 90 to 120 minutes. Training at the Sunfeast - SPT Football Academy is a structured program. The entire training schedule is pre-planned with a specific program for each day. The children are divided and trained according to their respective age groups. A typical training schedule starts with a 15 minute warm-up session followed by specific exercises for the game. A group training and football skill-training module follows soon after. Here the coaches take active part and demonstrate the specific skills to the trainees. The coaching ends with a 10 minute cool down. The coaches maintain a 'coaches log', which further enhances the monitoring system and the quality of training.

Is the Academy an ITC initiative or did ITC come on board as a sponsor of the Academy? What prompted the setting up of the football academy? Why football, and why an Academy?

ITC is a sponsor to the 'football division' of the SPT Sports Academy. The long-established popularity of cricket in the country has often led to other sports being neglected thereby leading to the lack of development of latent talent in these sports. The launch of Sunfeast Football Academy is part of the brand's overall strategy to connect with the kids by being an integral part of their development process. Games and sports play a significant role in a kid's life and have therefore been identified by Sunfeast as essential vehicles to communicate with the kids. Football is the most popular and celebrated game in the world. India being such a large country and growing economic power still lacks the basic infrastructure required to produce quality football players to represent the country on the world stage. Sunfeast believes that training the children at the grass root level will help nurture latent talent in the sport. A full fledged academy dedicated to coaching kids is one of the vehicles we can develop the interest of kids in the game and also teach the game in a proper and structured manner so that the passion for the game as well as technical knowledge can be nurtured from a young age.

What were the criteria for selection of current set of trainees? Where and how did the talent spotters go for spotting potential trainees?

The current trainees at the Sunfeast - SPT Football Academy are kids in the age group of 7-14 years who choose to participate in the training and to learn quality football. Sunfeast - SPT Football Academy also offers scholarships to talented players who show keen interest in the game and also would like to pursue a career in professional football. The talent spotting for such scholarship takes place at inter-school events held in Bangalore and other neighboring cities. Spotting budding talent will now be taken a step forward with an innovative weekend - "Sunfeast Football Open House" in various locations in an around the city. Here youngsters from the various neighborhoods will be given an opportunity to play football under professional guidance free of cost.

What are the long terms plans for this Academy? Is this is a one-off academy or is there a deeper commitment to football beyond this Academy?

As repeated competitive exposures builds and improves confidence and skill levels in the game the plan is not only to establish similar academies across the country but also organize competitive events at junior level to provide opportunities and exposure for developing playing skills.
The Long-term plan for the Sunfeast - SPT Football Academy would be to establish a quality team made up of players who could possibly represent the country in the future. Further more we would give the team the chance to pit their skills against other acclaimed academies from around the country by participating in national youth events. A residential academy, which will simultaneously have a school as well a regular coaching programme is also in the pipeline.

What are the things that you feel have been missing in India football and how does this Academy plan to address each of those?

Football has been overshadowed by other sports like cricket and is never given the due importance it deserves. Football has never been taken seriously as a profession in India. The provisions made available to the young football community are such that the youth have always found it difficult to develop themselves towards a serious professional football career. The Sunfeast - SPT Football Academy aims to provide an opportunity to such kind of latent talent.
Nutritional standards for young footballer are not sufficient to deal with the demands of the professional game. Right guidance and counseling is missing for the game, for this the academy plans to appoint sports medicine personal who can provide the professional guidance.

Are there any plans to hold football related events similar to the Sunfeast Open Tennis tournament that your company has sponsored in the last couple of years?

Right now the objective is to support SPT in setting up and developing similar football academies as well as organize local level sporting tournaments to promote the game amongst the youth. Once these primary objectives are met ITC might look at sponsorship of national level football competitions

What do you think about IndianFootball.Com and its work?

IndianFootball.Com is a very comprehensive and unique site on Indian football. The sections on football basics and the monthly newsletter on the Indian football scene are particularly informative.

Many thanks for granting us this interview and we wish you all the best!

the interview was conducted via eMail by Harmit Singh Kamboe (March 2007)

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