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Journalism of Courage
When the St. Stephen8217;s Football Academy started, critics gave no more than two months of oxygen. According to them it was a 8220;misadventure8221;. But two years on, it is the critics who ran out of oxygen. The 8220;misadventure8221; of principal Harold Carver and football coach Bhupinder Singh became the first football academy of its kind in the country.
The academy has 25 kids in the age group of 7-10 years and plans to continue coaching them for six to ten years. And the schedule is rigorous: the children are subjected to a daily 12-hour drill. From 7.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. they attend regular classes. They eat lunch between 2 and 3.30 p.m. and then do their homework or study. Then at 5 o8217; clock, after a one-and-half-hour rest, it is football time till 7 p.m.
8220;The academic graph of these pupils has soared significantly compared to their last year8217;s performance,8221; says Carver proudly. And the parents agree. One of them, Vinod Sood, says, 8220;My son has become more intelligent. Touch wood.8221; Carver converted the Home Science lab into a mess cum kitchen for the budding footballers. Lunch is strictly in accordance with Bhupinder Singh8217;s diet chart, says Aarti, the Home Science teacher. 8220;The principal checks the quality of the diet himself,8221; said dietitian Parminder Kaur. And that8217;s not all. Jacaob Mathews always hangs around the kids while they have their lunch to teach them table manners. And the school does not charge any extra fee for these services, says Shaminder Kaur, a parent. The results of the experiment are clearly visible when the children practice in the PU sports ground: like mature footballers they kick the ball from the middle of their football shoes.
8220;For the first few months, I only let them feel the ball8217;,8221; says Bhupinder Singh, who did his international coaching diploma from Germany. 8220;Today they can kick for the target.8221; But there are still miles and miles to go. And helping them reach those goals will be Dr Ashok Ahuja, senior scientific officer at NIS, Patiala, who has agreed to provide his expertise to the kids.
8220;When we started, we had the Subroto Cup national schools soccer but now I see that my kids will scale the heights,8221; says Carver. Parents are equally confident: 8220;I am sure one day my son Nikhil and others will don the national colour,8221; says Mr Bhatia, who owns a sweet shop in the city. 8220;I didn8217;t take more than 10 seconds to okay Bhupinder8217;s dream project,8221; said Harold Carver. And what he is doing to spread this concept? Carver has a ready answer: 8220;The moment a seven-year-old moves around the city or outside in a proper football kit, the concept grows.8221;
