'Just for Kix', a football academy is working at the grass-root level of football in Goa and churning out young champions
The Chicalim ground at Vasco is alwaysteeming with life, and several groups of children share the ground whilstplaying football and cricket. Somewhere amidst these children, a man withwatchful eyes surveys the proceedings.
Xisto Pais, an ex-footballer and musician,has been running the academy since its inception in 2007 with a motive to givechildren an opportunity to play without facing the prospect of selection, andnot making the cut. The academy is open to both boys and girls of ages six to16. Xisto says, “Every child has the right to play football. If the selectionsare going to be conducted everywhere, how is the child going to enjoy playingfootball?”
A typical day at the academy starts with ashort briefing and discussion on different topics, sometimes not related tofootball at all. The idea is to make the children open and vocal about theirthoughts. A coach supervises the training which is usually followed byteam-building games. Along with footballing skills, a lot of emphasis is placedon conducting oneself with the right attitude and humility. The coaches at theacademy keep changing with time as it allows the children to learn to work withdifferent people. Coaches come from different clubs and consist of mostly thosewho have worked with Xisto as players. There is no pressure applied on coachesto get the children ready to participate in tournaments.
The children from the academy oftenparticipate in selections held by various clubs. Xisto says, “When the childrengo for selections, we see which child can take pressure and which parents cantravel with the child for practice.” A lot of kids from the academy have beenselected to play professionally with clubs like Salgaocar U- 14 and U-18 and a firstdivision club in Pune to name a few. However, their attachment to the school andXisto is such, that whenever they are not playing professionally, they findthemselves back at the academy.
The academy has been training kids infootball and working at the grass root level with selfless effort from Xisto.What is notable is that all this is done without compromising on the funelement and without pressurising the kids. Xisto, take a bow!
