Football academies and coaches struggle to recover from the lockdown

Deepak was a football coach in a school and earned Rs 40 thousand every month. Laid off in May, he has now run out of savings and lives on loans from friends. A grocery is what he is planning to start in desperation.

He is not alone. Gaurav Patra, a Physical Education teacher in Cambridge School, became a father in March and three months later lost his job. His wife, also a school teacher, had availed of maternity leave. But once the leave was over, it was conveyed that her services too were not required. Shakti, who has done B-License Coaching, has shifted back to his village.

“I was running a football academy, Soccer Foundation, at Modern School, Vasant Vihar and was also coaching at the DDA Academy but due to the pandemic everything came to a standstill,” he explains. Senior players would be able to overcome the odds but the juniors and beginners would have a hard time to retain or re-learn the skills. Anjali, a coach at Soccer Foundation, agrees. “We tried online classes. But while 25 enrolled at first, the number soon shrank to three with all the girls dropping out,” she ruefully recalls.

“The pandemic has exposed the difference between haves and have nots in sports. Only the elite and those who can afford to hold competitions like the ISL and the Champions League will survive, ” laments Shaji Prabhakaran, President of Delhi Soccer Association.The All India Football Federation(AIFF) recently spent one and a half Crore Rupees to organise second Division I League matches though in normal times it would have cost only 30-40 lakhs, he said.

Honorary Secretary of Mizoram Football Association, Lalnghinglova Hmar, laments that the pandemic had dealt a big blow to all outdoor and spectator sports in general and football in particular. Football coach and technical head of Kerala Sports Council, SatheevanBalan, confides that “though there are no sporting activities, some players are unofficially playing on artificial turf at night to keep themselves fit”.

La Liga Football Schools used to operate more than 30 academies in India and 11 in the national capital. La Liga used to send ten children to Spain every year in exchange programme and last year four of them were selected for training in Europe.

But since March everything is closed. Sabir, former player and a coach at La Liga says “initially 500 children had enrolled for online sessions but the number soon dropped to 100. Salary of coaches had to be reduced by 75 percent”.

Online training, he points out, is no substitute to offline or practical training. Children do not enjoy it as much and find it difficult to concentrate.

What is more, even online sessions are so competitive that the average fees has come down to Rs 125 per session.“Initially we charged Rs. 500 per session but with competition from Bengaluru Academy and Baichung Bhutia Academy, we had to reduce the fees to Rs 100. Bengaluru and Biachung Bhutia Academy charge Rs 1499 for 12 sessions,” informs Sabir. In Mumbai Prashant J Singh is more optimistic. “We launched a new club Thane City FC in March but following the lockdown, we re-strategized our entire plan for 2020 and used the lockdown to get better on digital platforms as there was no physical presence.” In June four of his friends invested in the club, making it easier. But salary of coaches have still been cut by 40%.

Online training sessions are finding new ways to engage budding footballers. In La Liga online training, they are given tasks to follow the European Leagues, to watch moves and note them down, name their favourite players in different positions and explain why they are better than the rest.

This is now the new normal. But as coaches and trainers struggle and hope for better times, has the pandemic pushed India behind in the beautiful game?