ISSUE 28 | VOL 07 | 11 SEPTEMBER 2020 Vedanta Newsdesk SPORTS FOR A BETTER TOMORROW PASSION TO SERVE E-KAKSHA AWARDS THE UNIFYING POWER OF SPORTS Sport is a unique and important connective tissue that binds people together, both across and within societies. Sport unites and inspires people, inculcates strong values in them, and plays an important part in national development. As South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning former leader Nelson Mandela said: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where there was only despair.” MAKING INDIA A SPORTING POWERHOUSE The Vedanta Group has been incubating sporting programmes at the grassroots level to transform India into a global sporting powerhouse. To give wings to this dream of letting every child play and excel in sports, Vedanta Sports was born as an umbrella brand designed to create a unified narrative for all the sporting activities across the group. VEDANTA SPORTS: FOCUS ON FOOTBALL Vedanta shares the dream of millions of Indians who want to see the country on the world football stage. To achieve this goal, Vedanta has invested Rs 100 crore in the past decade to develop grassroots football in the country. Two state-of-the-art academies have been set up in Goa and Rajasthan, showcasing Vedanta’s commitment to the cause of the football, the most-loved sport globally. The residential football training programmes are completely free for budding footballers and provides them with nutrition and education as well. The plan is to identify talented youngsters who are passionate about soccer, induct them into the residential programme at the academies for a four-year training curriculum . The thrust is on holistic development as the football academies look to nurture and develop the talented youths into professional footballers and well-disciplined citizens. Sesa Football Academy FUELLING A PASSION Goa - once a Portuguese colony - has always rooted for football. The history of football in Goa dates back to 1883 when Reverent Fr. William Robert Lyons, an Irish priest, introduced the sport to the people there. The first football game was played in Panjim in the year 1900. And the passion lives on even today. The Sesa Football Academy was set up in 1999 to fulfil the dreams and aspirations of Goans to excel in the sport. The vision was to create a premier academy which would produce quality footballers for the state and the national level. The academy, which came up on a reclaimed mine in Sanquelim, provides the infrastructure and ecosystem SFA team with Chief minister of Goa and for identifying, nurturing and building former Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs future talent in football. Vedanta set up another campus for the senior team at Sirsaim in 2008. The SFA senior team has risen through the ranks in the Goa local league, and now features in the Goa Pro League, the premier football league in the state. MAKING OF CHAMPIONS Vedanta has been one of the foremost promoters of football over the years. The testimony to the all-round efforts put in over the last 20 years is that 9 footballers from the academy have played for the Indian national team, while many more have represented India at various age group tournaments. SFA has so far groomed at least 200 footballers, with graduates playing for prestigious I-League, ISL and reputed clubs across the country. Some notable alumni from the academy include Adil Khan, Denzil Franco, Mickey Fernandes and Pratesh Shirodkar who have brought laurels to the country. Sesa Football Academy: Nurturing football talent in the age group of 6-14 TAKING FOOTBALL TO THE GRASSROOTS SFA has expanded its reach in recent years to identify talented school kids in Goa through the Vedanta Football Schools initiative. These football schools – rolled out in 2012 - identify and nurture football talent in the age group of 6-14 years from nearby schools and provide them non-residential football training. These centres – which are geared to help children inculcate sports skills and develop team spirit and healthy habits in children - are now turning out to be a feeding pool for the academy, with students from these schools regularly making it to the residential football academy. ZINC FOOTBALL Inspired by the success of Sesa Football Academy, Hindustan Zinc embarked on a massive grassroots programme – ‘Zinc Football’ - a one-of-its-kind football development initiative. Started in 2017, the Zinc Football academy focuses on timely intervention of technology and data-driven analysis to help develop grassroots football in the country and take Indian football to the next level. The residential academy at Zawar in Udaipur is equipped with world-class facilities and the country’s first ever ‘technology-led football training’ – the unique F-Cube technology. IDENTIFYING UNTAPPED TALENT In the past two years of its existence, Zinc Football has been scouting for talent across Rajasthan through the Zinc Football Youth Tournament and other football clinics. India has a huge talent pool that is hidden in rural hinterland and tribal areas, and they just need guidance, support and opportunities. The plan is to reach out to every talent in the state, even if they are from remote corners. Zinc Football launched a massive outreach programme in Rajasthan to expose 350 passionate boys and girls to the latest training methods through the 12 community football centres, called Zinc Football Schools. Apart from development of Indian football, the aim is to leverage the power of the world’s most loved sport at this tender age so that they can make a positive impact on the community in the days ahead. Zinc Football Academy A STATE-OF-THE-ART ACADEMY The Zinc Football Academy is equipped with 3 FIFA quality turfs and a 7v7-sized natural grass ground for training and practice, all equipped with team dugouts. In addition, there is a multi-sport ground for recreational sports like basketball, volleyball, badminton, and cricket. With children getting access to state-of-the-art facilities for regular training under experienced coaches, the Zinc Football squad has been able to bring in commendable accolades over the past two years – from coming second in the first-ever Rajasthan State Men’s League while playing against teams much older and physically stronger, to qualify for the Subroto Cup in its debut attempt. TECHNOLOGY AT PLAY The introduction of F-Cube Training and Assessment Technology, the key developmental parameters at the Zinc Football Academy and Zinc Football Schools, ensures that players are continuously evaluated, monitored and analysed through well-regulated player data tracking, which helps qualified coaching staff to take appropriate steps for the right development of these children. F-Cube is a holistic technology-driven, sports, health and fitness platform which was developed to analyse the six basic skills required in football — dribbling, passing, heading, shooting, trapping and tackling. This revolutionary software is used at the Zinc Football Academy to monitor and enhance players’ performances. F-Cube has a customised training curriculum under which every player’s response time, endurance, hand-eye coordination, communication, physical classification, foot-eye coordination, memory, agility, accuracy, among others, is reviewed and recorded. Unlike traditional training methods, F-Cube focuses on digital engagement and gamification to retain the interest of players. Young players at Zinc Football Academy FOOTBALL SCOUTING One of the keys to secure holistic growth in footballing standards is through scouting, and this is where Zinc Football has taken a big leap. In its first year, ZF organized 43 scouting initiatives including Talent Evaluation Camps, and District & State level Football Tournaments. Keeping the momentum going, the Zinc Football Youth Tournament was conducted in the second year, reaching out to 23 districts of Rajasthan with over 5,000 children participating. EMPOWERING WOMEN THROUGH SPORT In line with the Vedanta Group’s key focus on women empowerment, Vedanta Women’s League was rolled out in collaboration with Goa Football Association. The league provides a platform for women footballers in the state to gain competitive experience and showcase their skills. Players in action: Vedanta Women’s League The Vedanta Women’s League is gaining popularity with the successful completion of the three editions reaching out to more than 300 aspiring footballers. Two of these girls have represented the senior national women’s team in various tournaments. The prodigal find of the 2017 edition of the women’s league, Karishma Shirvoikar, went on to don the national colours for the India under-17 team. She made history by scoring the fastest goal in the National Women’s Championships where she found the net within 15 seconds of kick-off. Karishma was given scholarship by Vedanta and has been offered a chance for football trial with a reputed international professional club. VEDANTA YOUTH CUP: SHOWCASING SKILLS With the vision of providing the country’s young AWARDS & footballers a platform to compete against each other ACCOLADES and showcase their skills at a national level, the Vedanta Youth Cup was launched in 2019. Endorsed by the Goa Vedanta Sports has Football Association, the inaugural edition was held bagged FICCI’s award at Sesa Football Academy. What is unique is that the for ‘Best Corporate tournament for the first time brought together teams Contributing in from India’s top four corporate-backed residential Sports through CSR’ football academies – Vedanta’s Sesa Football Academy, Zinc Football was Tata Football, JSW’s Bengaluru FC and Reliance Youth awarded ‘Best Foundation. Grassroots Project of the Year’ by AIFF TRAINING DURING COVID TIMES (All India Football In line with Vedanta’s policy of Safety First, the Vedanta Federation) General football academies sent the trainees home during the Secretary Mr.