Forca Goa Foundation launches second season of the Little Gaurs League

by Chittu Shetty November 13, 2019

After the success of the inaugural edition of the Little Gaurs League, the Forca Goa Foundation is all set to launch the second edition of Goa’s biggest Baby League, the Little Gaurs League 19-20.

This edition of the league is looking to build on the base from last year, and include more teams, more age categories and cover a wider geographical area. Jump Networks Limited (JUMPNET), a leading technology company, has come on board as the Principal Sponsor to make the league bigger as well as strengthenour belief and vision for grassroots development.

“The Little Gaurs League (LGL) 19-20 will be held in three zones; North Goa, Central Goa(Vasco) and South Goa. The LGL will allow registrations in the U6, U8 and U10 age categories, while simultaneously also conducting an exclusive U12 League for girls”, explained Nathanial D’Costa, Football Development Manager, Forca Goa Foundation.

The unique feature of the LGL is that it’s open for anyone to participate be it schools, academies, clubs or communities. The idea is to allow everyone to get involved and form teams and participate.

Added Derrick Pereira, Technical Director, FC Goa, “The reason to have this Little Gaur League is to create more opportunities for young talent. We are focussing more on grassroots as we feel it is the right age to develop footballers. We have expanded our reach this year so that more children have access to football. Today footballing talent have more access to quality training compared to a decade or two ago. Young players need to have access to tournaments from a very young age and this Little Gaur League is offering just that. We are now on the right path.” He also added, “Football training begins not on the pitch but at home. Parents are the child’s first coaches.”

Last season’s edition saw 36 teams participate across the two zones and had over 350 children participate. This year we’re hoping to have 90 teams register and have over 900 children participated in Goa’s biggest baby league. The League will be following the format prescribed by the All India Football Federation in the Golden Baby Leagues Handbook. The Little Gaurs League will run from November to March with match days every week. Winners of each zone will then be participating in a final round to decide the state champions of Goa in each age category.

(L-R) Nathaniel Dcosta, Football Development Manager, Derrick Pereira, Technical Director, FC Goa, Megha Desai, Head-Marketing, Jump Networks Limited and Ishita Godinho, Community De

The Foundation believes that by providing children regular access to competitive football, children can hone their match skills and develop into better footballers. FIFA and global football development reports show that children who have access to baby leagues tend to develop faster and have an edge over others. Superstar footballers like Luis Suarez and Alexis Sanchez have credited their success to their participation in Baby leagues when they were younger.

In addition to supporting our league, JUMPNET, will partner with the Foundation to engage with communities and develop coaches in Goa. Megha Desai, Head – Marketing, Jump Networks Ltd stated, “We have been on this journey with Forca Goa Foundation (FGF) for a while now. We share the same passion and vision as FGF. It fits perfects with what we want to do which is to connect with communities. At our core we are a technology platform that enables streaming high definition content on a low bandwidth. FGF also works with communities and offers them access to sports and that’s one of the key reasons we decided to associate with the foundation.”

Along with the holistic development of the sport, with this partnership, the company also hopes to positively impact the remote areas of Goa through the initiatives of the Forca Goa Foundation.

About Forum for Sports and Freedom of Expression (Branded as Forca Goa Foundation)

Forca Goa Foundation is a not-for-profit sports entity that focuses on creating community-based football initiatives for children to grow up playing the sport in an organised environment. We believe children who get to regularly play, learn and enjoy the sport in an organized football environment, will not just benefit individually but will also help grow the game in the country.

The Foundation’s initiatives revolve around organizing leagues, providing professional training to children, creating coaches, working with communities, providing life-skills workshops and facilitating sports infrastructure development. The Foundation’s campaign #GrowWithTheGame urges Goans to make a serious commitment towards playing, learning and enjoying the game of football on a consistent basis.

It asks supporters of Goan and Indian football to promote grassroots football i.e. encourage more children to play regularly and empower more individuals who want to contribute to the development of the game – be it coaching, refereeing, volunteering or just cheering!

About Jump Networks Limited

Jump Networks Limited is a publicly listed technology company focused on providing world-class digital services to the historically ignored sections of the society in India and outside. The company’s mission is to help the ‘next billion’ users bridge the digital divide through its ‘phy-gital’, integrated ecosystem. #JUMPNET works closely with local communities and resources with the aim of providing a richer life for all.

– Courtesy of FC Goa Media

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