47th Football & Basketball coaching camp in Madanpura

by Siddharth Yadav April 23, 2016

On 21^st April, Footballcounter met carious coaches and players who resides in Madanpura, which is touted as one of the biggest football hub in Maharashtra. Ever since the introduction of football and basketball camps, Madanpura has brought up some of the finest and exciting players not only for Maharashtra but also for the country.

Their recent camp, ‘Late Rajiv Gandhi, 47^th Football & Basketball Coaching Camp’ has just got underway at the very famous Mohammad Hussein ground at Madanpura.

One of the professional coach at Madanpura discussed about the roles of coaches, development of players and of course about the camps.

“Both, the kids and their parents are taking interest in football. Compare to our days, the kids are more passionate and interested in football currently. There has been lots of changes in mind-set and the kids are more aware about players these days.”

“Coaches plays a great role in motivating players. The kids should make their own names, instead of worrying more about footballer’s name at the back of their jersey, they should work so hard that one day it would be there’s name at the back.”

The coach also spoke about Madanpura’s ground which has made many great players and undoubtedly it is one of the famous grounds in Maharashtra.

“This ground has been very special for us. There are many players as well as coaches who has emerged from Madanpura which also includes number of national players,”

“There is 47 football camps in Madanpura and it has been going on since 26 years now. More than thousand kids join our camps who are coached by 50 professional coaches which is quite big. I don’t think there are such big football camps anywhere in India as there is in Madanpura,” The coach added.

Such initiatives taken by the people of Madanpura should be followed by each community as it helps young players to get a huge exposure and platform to play football.

“There are over 16 national football players in Madanpura. Playing this beautiful game is a culture here, I am sure you won’t get to see anything like this in the whole Maharashtra,”

“Madanpura is very famous because of its ground. Like Nagpada is known for Basketball, Madanpura is famous for football. The ground is named after Mohammad Hussein who was one of India’s top coaches.”

Faiyaz Ahmed, who is now a corporator in Madanpura briefly spoke about the football and basketball coaching camps which has been set up at Madanpura.

“It’s been 14 years since we started basketball camps. Majority of the girls used to gather and sit back seeing boys practising football, even they wanted to be a part of this camp so we started basketball camps too and today there are more than 300 kids who is a part of basketball camps.”

Along with coaching kids, the officials at Madanpura is also creating and spreading awareness regarding the water shortage, cleanliness of the city and other major problems.

“We are also creating an awareness here by asking everyone not to waste water and to keep our vicinity clean and hygienic. Majority of the players has already taken this initiative to keep our environment safe and clean which is a big achievement.”

One of renowned person in Madanpura, Ansari Sagir (Janab) didn’t hesitated to share his journey on football.

“I started playing football right from my school years. In 1963, I stopped attending practise which made my college’s principal angry. He angrily said if I don’t attend practise then I won’t be allowed to sit in exams,”

“The moment I came back home from college my dad said me If I continue playing football then he won’t spare me. But I continued and soon in the coming years I played from 1964 to 1970 for Young Boys which is one of the oldest club of Madanpura.”

MDFA’s committee member Souter Vaz also shared his thoughts: “This kind of opportunity is a great platform for players and coaches. We need more of these initiatives in Mumbai to improve football.”

“Few years back there were not many coaches in Mumbai but since the introduction of D license coaching by WIFA, there are many D license and as well as A license coaches.”

MDFA’s Henry Menezes: “Mumbai’s football for ladies is picking up and as I said you, day by day we are getting more and more teams,” he added.

“Madanpura is always up for football which is not only great for Maharashtra but for whole country. In the recent times Kenkre FC, Steadfast FC, Mumbai FC has taken initiatives to start a tournament where kids from different age groups got huge platforms to showcase themselves, such initiatives must be taken by each community and clubs.”