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Sporting Clube de Portugal’s Technical Director, Ricardo D’Sousa, who is here in Mumbai to scout young talent and select 15 children between 8 to 14 years to undergo training under the ‘DreamChasers’, talent hunt project, launched by Proforce, was impressed with the performance of the kids.
“I am surprised by the skills on the youngsters. They were all very interested in playing and there was plenty of spark in them,” was Ricardo’s observation after having a look at over 600 children during the first round of selection trials at the Cambridge International School, Kandivali.
The Portuguese stated that the selection is going to be a four-stage process, on the lines of what’s conducted back home in Portugal in the club’s academy in Lisbon. The process is split into four parts; skills with only the ball; ball and goal; ball skills against opponents and ball skills with complexities thrown in for good measure.
The 15 selected youngsters will undergo a five-year residential training under the guidance of coaches from Sporting Clube de Portugal and their academics (schooling) would also be taken care of by DreamChasers and Dr. Cyrus Poonawala International School in Kolhapur. They will also be sent to the SCP Academy for a fortnight every year.
Proforce co-founders, CSO, Capt. Nitin Pant and CEO, Capt. Ameya Kocherkar, were both very excited and pleased with the response the DreamChaser received for their first selection trials. “The response in Mumbai over the past two days has been excellent. A total of 300 hundred children attended the trial on Saturday and another 300 are set to take the trials on Sunday,” said Ameya Kochrekar.
Ameya also pointed out that the parents of the kids have been very supporting and encouraging. “The parents have shown lots of enthusiasm. Ninety per cent of the parents with whom we have interacted feel professional football can be taken up as a career,” he stated.
