MARGAO
As youngsters Anthony Francis Vas and Zeena Rita Soares, both loved football and hockey. The two set about their sporting journey playing both games, right from their childhood days and carried forward their sporting ambitions on their shoulders as they passed out from School and Higher Secondary School.
What was in store for them as and when they hung their hockey sticks and football shoes, they were not sure. Clouds of uncertainty hung over their heads. As youngsters, they had envisaged themselves taking a plunge into coaching.
Having played hockey and also football at the national level, they kept their options open in both games. But coaching opportunities for the game of hockey were few and far between and add to that, the indifference of the Goans Hockey administration.
Fed up with the apathy and to keep the home fires burning, Panaji-based Anthony has since said goodbye to hockey as coach and now is part of the football youth coaching set up at Sporting Clube De Goa, one of the clubs competing in the Goa Professional League and which once competed in the I-League.
Anthony is one of the few NIS diploma coaches who were interviewed by Sports Authority of Goa (SAG), a few years back, but were never handed the appointment letters. The appointment was conducted by two high-ranking officials, one, who has retired and one who is still in the saddle.
“Yes, I answered an interview with Sports Authority of Goa, a few years back along with a few hockey players. All of us wanted to be hockey coaches and promote the game but sadly for reasons known to SAG, our names were not considered,” said the 40-yea-rold Anthony, who has an NIS diploma in coaching, one of the prerequisites for the coaches’ job at SAG.
The former State-level player in hockey has impressive credentials when it comes to coaching, having played under different coaches in both the games at the junior and senior level in hockey as at the junior level in football, he has picked a lot of things down the line and is now imparting to his students after arming himself with a National Institute of Sports (NIS) diploma in coaching at Mumbai's Kandivali.
Fed up with the lack of response, Anthony decided to take the painful decision to move to football as a full-time coach. “I have coached the Goa University hockey teams, both boys and girls, the State hockey team juniors’ girls,” he said about his association with the game.
“I have also coached the Sporting Clube de Goa and Goa Velha SC teams which were taking part in the Goans Hockey tournament but they pulled out on account of the indifference and unprofessional attitude of the people governing the game in the state,” he said.
Going a step further Antony disclosed that he has also got an opportunity to work with the various state teams, thanks to Goa Football Association. “I have coached the Goa Senior women's team and also the sub-junior boys,” he added.
Zeena, another hockey player who was hoping to get a SAG hockey coaching job, has since joined Goa Football Development Council as a coach and is training youngsters in the most popular game in Siolim village.
Anthony and Zeena were fortunate they had two platforms to choose when it came to coaching. Others like Ayyaz Khan, Brendan de Noronha and Riyaz Shabbir Kambali, have no such options.
The three North Goa-based coaches, who are graduates and have completed their NIS coaching programmes are waiting for a full-time job from the government or any other originations where their services can be put to good use.
Some of them have been waiting for four years, looking for a full-time permanent job. The trio, besides turning out for the State in the junior and senior teams, have also represented the Goa University team.
With no full-time jobs coming their way they have been doing some private coaching at schools and academics, while also officiating as match referees in State-level and national championships.
The same is the case with Aviraj Madgaonkar, who is a Hockey India qualified coach and recently accompanied the Goa state subs juniors’ boys as the think tank of the squad. He does not have a regular job but trains students in different parts of North Goa, which is his primary source of livelihood.
Strangely, Goans Hockey club records show the number of clubs in South Goa as more than those registered in North Goa, but the SAG has not posted any coaches in the district. Of the three SAG coaches, Eliter Fernandes, Lester Gurjao and Victor Albuquerque, all are based in either Ilhas or Bardez, with Lester training children in Fr Agnel School, Pilar, while the other two are coaching schools and clubs in Bardez.
Bastora-based Abbusaliya, who has been recently appointed as hockey coach of Khelo India project functioning at Peddem-Mapusa completes the coaching circle in North Goa.
