DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO KICK A BALL?

For to many years, I was told that there were girls sports and boys sports and that there were certain things that were okay for girls to do and some things that only boys should do.

Living in the Indian society shows us that there is so much of tradition and cultural heritage that flows with great principle and ethics. It teaches us how to respect and treat each other, and how to be individuals who are strong.  We will not let anyone hold us down, but we strive always to be united and empower each other. Our most significant example is how the country united together during Independence and fought back from being oppressed and mistreated. Another example would be how the whole nation comes together to celebrate a sport like cricket. 

This brings me to what I want to discuss! Do sports have a gender? Is it possible that football has fallen prey to the gender- stereotyped box? Yes! Football has been put into that box. Time and again I have heard these phrase’s “Hahahaha……Girls and football?” or “You play Football? Do you even know how to kick a ball?”

If we come from a society that has been so rich with respect, ethics, and unity to stand with each other then can we also unite for women’s football? Some of you are probably already are supporters of the idea and are encouraging your daughters, nieces, and other girls to move forward breaking these stereotypes, but there are a few who need a little nudge to see how it’s  not a man’s game. Football has so much to offer -- men and women, girls and boys.  The physical health benefits are tremendous, and it also helps on an emotional and mental level.   According to studies, football has been shown to strengthen women to make them less susceptible to cardiovascular diseases, and the activity helps them deal with depression and other such factors that women face.

There are quite a few voices rising to speak for women’s sports and women like Mary Kom, Sania Nehwal, and others are showing Indian girls and women that it is not just for men and boys, that they too have a chance to play.  So stand with us as we EMPOWER WOMEN AND GIRLS.  Join our women’s program and let your daughters, sisters, nieces, and friends achieve the dream they may have had to become a footballer and maybe even to create history just like Mia Hamm, and Alex Morgan and other women are. 

Joanna Cunningham, Assistant Coach, Women's Program, BCFC

It's All About Your First Touch

In my previous blog I talked about the importance of updating our attitude towards football, to a more professional mind set or thinking pattern.

It's not enough to just think in a professional manner but, in terms of our game we need to upgrade it to a more professional level as well. One of the preliminary steps to doing that is to master our First Touch. This is so basic that as players and coaches we often overlook this phenomenon. We often think we will learn it along the way, but I have been proven wrong time and again. We don't learn it unless we practice it. Even the best of players still continue their practice on first touch.

What is first touch all about?

How a player controls the ball when they receive a pass is what refers to First Touch. When one receives the ball there are three possible things they are bound to do: pass it, shoot it or dribble it.

In my coaching sessions with kids 13 and below, first touch has been my prime focus. Children between 3-6 years of age enjoy kicking and running around with a ball. But with kids from 7-10 years I am keen on teaching them all about first touch in football. This is the age where they begin to feel the ball more with their feet. They watch a lot of soccer which influences them to imitate professionals like Ronaldo, Neymar, Messi, Muller and other prominent players who become their heroes, that is why it is important to start teaching this technique or skill set as you may call it, which emphasises on the ability of the child to control the ball on receiving it and directing it on just the first touch.

The game of football usually gets faster as children grow older. The famous tiki-taka style practiced by the Spanish giants Barcelona, developed by the legendary coach Johan Cryuff is simply based on movement with quick passes. A lot of focus here is on quick first touches.

In a 90 minute game the best of the best players get to touch the ball for a maximum of 80-90 seconds if they are lucky. Therefore, more of the game is played without the ball than with it, because the time with the ball is so limited. It is very important to touch the ball at the right moment and also think ahead to what needs to be done when one is in possession of the ball. In order to improve our game we must get faster and for us to get faster the first touch needs to be perfected.

In a nation like ours where perfect football fields are very rare, awkward bounces often catch our players off guard. During my college football days I had a player from Yemen who could just dribble with the ball in the air. He could control and run with the ball almost across the field with the ball mostly in air. It's only later on I got to know that since Yemen is full of sand, players are forced to play a lot with the ball in the air.

Indian fields are not levelled and awkward bounces make it difficult for players to play. When it rains the fields get clogged by water, but the game doesn't end. The ball needs to be controlled and played in the air. Therefore we get no excuse. Players need to perfect their touch with any part of the ball, whether in the air or on the ground. Coaches need to make it their priority to work on a player’s first touch.

So what can take our game to the next level? It's perfecting our first touch. It makes us faster and more creative. It's time we up our game!

It's not important if you have the ball, what is most important is what do you do when you have the ball?

Vijay David, Assistant Coach, BCFC .

ELITE EARLY RISE PROGRAM. Hurry!

Are you struggling to play or practice football due to work or college timings? The Bangalore City Football Club is proud the announce a new program called EERP. It's for those working professional, college students or players who cannot play and practice in the afternoons or nights. This program will give you the opportunity to get world class coaching and training early in the morning before you go to work, college or elsewhere. Practices will be held at The Bangalore Football Turf, which is a top notch turf facility right of ring road. Please contact us for more details.

Seats are very limited. So Hurry!

Call : +91 7848008800

Be part of Total ( early morning ) Football in Bangalore!

Barefoot Footballers / Street footballers

Courtesty : Image via Straight from a movie

The movie, Pele birth of a legend has been a delight to all football lovers. It talks about how Pele transformed from being just a barefoot street footballer to the one who became the nation’s World Cup hero, winning it three times in a row.

Barefoot football is not something which is new to Indian. Our streets are filled with soccer lovers whose footwear become the goal posts and they try to score between the two posts.

Playing barefoot develops one skill of ball control. It gives you a real feel of the ball on your foot. You change your directions very quickly and alter the pace much better than with cleats on. 100 % of the touch goes to the brain and nothing is lost on the shoe, so your feel on the ball is much better too. Also finally the lower part of your feet muscles get automatically strengthened.

Having said all that, its time know that football has evolved and so has the practice of wearing soccer shoes while playing. Even the barefoot street player, Pele, had to wear shoes to play professional. Indian soccer, as it is already has needs to continue to move away from just the streets. There are so many bare footers who can’t do a thing with the ball when they have shoes on.

So how can the quality of football improve in this great talented nation of 1.2 billion people? A possible answer is to move from streets to soccer fields, wear shoes rather than play barefoot every time. The influence of football has grown in India in the recent past. It won’t be too long that the way hockey was overtaken by cricket, football will overtake cricket. It is not very far for football to become our national sport. It is not very far that India will play FIFA World Cup. It is not very distant when huge money will be spent by the big clubs on Indian players and great clubs will be birthed here.

All it takes is a dreamer. Someone who will dare to walk away the comfortable streets in to the football fields, who will wear the shoes and work hard enough to see this generation take the world stage in representing India. Come on Indian Peles it is time to take the big stage.

Vijay David, Assistant Coach, BCFC