Small is beautiful

The arrival of a name as iconic as Manchester United represents a major coup for Hotfut,which has been in existence for less than six months.

“We approached them (MUSS),and asked them,why not come to Pune?” says Pavit Singh,co-owner,Hotfut. “The city has a huge,growing football culture,and so they’re definitely going to get the market they’re looking for,and Hotfut meets all their quality requirements for them to conduct their programme.”

MUSS’s most essential requirement was a quality playing surface. Hotfut has city’s only synthetic turf pitches,which provide a surface consistent with the artificial turf at Cooperage ground where MUSS conduct their Mumbai operations.

“Artificial turf gives us even bounce and a surface that will allow smooth,slick passing,” says Mukul Choudhary,director,MUSS. “That’s what we need for our course. And we aren’t really looking for a full-size ground. Even in Mumbai,we divide Cooperage into four small pitches,and each is occupied by a small batch of not more than 12 kids. That’s how the players at the Manchester United Academy train in the UK,and our objective is to give the same standardised experience.”

All over the world,coaches are in agreement that smaller pitches provide the best platform for children to develop their football techniques,and those at MUSS are no exception.

“We never play on full-size pitches,” says Choudhary. “It’s always a small area and usually four versus four or two versus two,so the kids get a lot of touches of the ball,and really get to improve their technical skills.”

It isn’t just the Manchester Uniteds of the world that recognises this philosophy. Singh says that players from the PDFA (Pune District Football Association) League regularly visit Hotfut for training.

“We’ve got players from most of the local clubs,who come here to improve the technical side of their game,” says Singh. “There’s this growing trend towards teams looking to play a short-passing,Barcelona-style. Mischief Makers are one club who use the facility regularly. They are consciously trying to develop a prettier,tiki-taka style of play.”

Last year,Ryan Godinho,who used to play for Mischief Makers as well as a couple of other PDFA clubs,got together with a couple of his friends to start a football academy called Happy Feet. They now run it out of four locations – University Road,Lulla Nagar,Wakad and Hotfut. Across all four centres,they run their training on small-sized pitches.

“Playing on a full-size pitch,you learn things like positioning,and you develop the physical side of your game,” says Godinho. “But on smaller pitches,you don’t have to cover large distances,so the focus is on what we call SAQ,or Speed,Agility and Quickness. You get really fast,back-and-forth action with lots of dribbling and quick,short passing.”

It isn’t surprising,therefore,that the biggest chunk of Hotfut’s patronage comes from recreational players. Stepping onto a floodlit surface that looks like freshly-mown grass,they only need to slip on their favourite player’s jersey to complete the illusion that they’re actually playing for Real Madrid or AC Milan. Not having to run back and forth on a full-length pitch surely prolongs the feeling of make-believe.

“We’ve got membership schemes that allow people to come three-four times a week and play. I know people who come and play football on Friday night instead of partying,” says Singh. “Frankly,I’m a little surprised by how good the response has been so far. We’re opening our second venue,near Deccan,and that should be coming up in November. Apart from that,we’ve finalised a couple of locations in Mumbai and Delhi as well — if we can get the finances in place,they should be up and running too.”