PANAJI
Sattari taluka is home to rich sporting talent, particularly in football and hockey, which has largely gone untapped over the years. However, that is changing thanks to the efforts of the Pilar Fathers, who are committed to discovering and promoting local talent at every opportunity.
The Pilar Fathers, who have a full-fledged hockey youth development programme for school children in the Honda area have now ventured into football, organising a summer coaching camp for boys, who have completed their board exams.
“There are about 35 boys attending the camp... They have good talent but have not learnt football under any coaches, so their fundamentals are weak. The camp aims to correct their basic fundamentals,” said Fr. George Nandiyala of the Pilar Fathers.
Pilar Fathers Sports for Youth Development, in collaboration with ODA Grassroots Football Academy and Bidesh XI Sports Club, are organising the summer football camp with the help of Honda Sarpanch Shivdas Madkar, informed Fr George.
A key feature of the Pilar Fathers’ hockey programme, which caters to both boys and girls, is the emphasis on the school studies of the trainees, with tuition classes arranged for them before their training sessions to ensure they do not fall behind in their academic work.
For the record, Fr George played football and hockey at the college level and received his initial football coaching in Cuncolim. “The camp took me back to my younger days when we used to train under coach Levino Dias and other coaches at Poitomaddo ground in Cuncolim,” recalled Fr George, who did his school studies at Our Lady of Health, Cuncolim.
Fr George noted that there are no football academies in Sattari, and players from the taluka rarely get a chance to play for any of the top clubs in the state. “This camp will hopefully be attended by talent scouts from some of the big clubs in Goa, and they will select players for some of the top clubs in the state,” hoped Fr George.
“The camp will also help us scout good players, and at the end of the camp, there will be a league organised among the players on March 29,” added Fr George.
