IISJ principal : Football coaching camp a good initiative

The Indian Youth Welfare Association (IYWA), Jeddah, has started a free football coaching camp last week. IYWA, a nonprofit and nonpolitical association, will be holding these camps over the weekends and the response in the early weeks have been tremendous. The camp is being held to promote physical fitness and participation in outdoor sports activities among the children of Indian expatriates living in Saudi Arabia. International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ), Principal Masood Ahmed officially inaugurated on Friday, Dec. 23, the camp at the Kaki grounds. Speaking on the occasion, Masood commended the initiative and advised the youngsters to take up outdoor sports as a necessary form of diversion from their indoor activities. Participation in such strenuous activity will increase their physical fitness and also help ward off obesity. IYWA President Surendra Pal Singh said: “There was excellent response from the kids as well as parents for the football coaching camp, and based on this good reaction IYWA is considering starting coaching camps for other sports which are popular among the Indian expat community and feasible in Jeddah in future.” According to the program coordinator of the football coaching camp and general secretary of IYWA, Mir Gazanfar Ali Zaki, the main aim of the camp is to encourage teenagers to come out of the shell of gadgets and devices and engage them in outdoor sports activity to develop their physical fitness. IYWA is targeting the age group between 8-16 years. Before playing a match, the children are introduced to warm-up physical exercises combined with running practice to develop stamina in them, he said, adding, football was chosen to begin with as it is considered ‘the true international sport’ as well as favorite game in India and Saudi Arabia. The coaching camp aims to develop the skills of boys through scientific training methods under the guidance of Indian national football trainers and supervision by senior national and state level players like Zaki, Mohammed Jaweed, Syed Kazim Hussain, Mir Taqi Ali and Mir Fazal Ali. The trainers have been through intensive training courses and will assume management of the camp. The coaching will have divisions with age specific groups and trained accordingly which includes fun-based learning for younger children and an intense training for older children. The training sessions also include one-on-one program like goalkeeping training, defense training etc. The coaching camp will concentrate on skill and fitness sessions with constant monitoring of every child enrolled. IYWA football coaching camp is scheduled for Thursday and Friday every week from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. For further queries please contact event manager and coaching camp in charge Anwar ul Haq (0507542566) or assistant event Manager Farooq Ahmed (0509558125). Chief Coordinator,  Muzzammil Hussain said, “IYWA believes in hard work and perseverance! Our coaches are dedicated to bring out the best in each child. Enroll for this coaching camp and see the difference!”