Gurgaon: The district administration has decided to come up with 10 football academies in each of four blocks in Gurgaon to promote the game among the youths of the ‘Millennium City’ in the wake of U-17 FIFA World Cup, which is currently being held in India.
According to sources, the focus will be more on rural areas. Private football academies in the city like PSG Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil International Football Academy will be assisting these academies in their day-to-day functioning. Players from an age group of 10-18 years will be selected to the academies. A blueprint for the project will be soon prepared and will be sent to top officials of the district administration.
The current state of the game of football in the district is not very encouraging. Those who like the game have enrolled themselves in private academies, where they are shelling out huge sum of money.
According to district sports officer Parasram, the government is planning to recruit new coaches and trainers to create a coach bank, who will be sent to different districts for training players. “There are many sports grounds in the district, but there are lack of football coaches. The demand for trainers has been made so that we have the best players from this district,” he said.
The district administration has planned to make the schools a part of the programme. School teachers and principals will be educated about football, who will in turn create awareness about the game among students and parents. In this case, the primary level would be the focus.
“I feel that every kid should take up one game. The responsibility of the authorities is now to develop the infrastructure for football in schools,” said Ramkumar, district primary education officer.
Note: News shared for public awareness with reference from the information provided at online news portals.
