April 25, 17.57 PM IST || Pocket News Alert
New Delhi, 26th April, 2016: Delhi Dynamos FC, the Club of North India, today announced the launch of the Club’ s first Academy in partnership with TDI International School, Sonepat. The academy is scheduled to start from July 1, 2016. Preceding this to build the atmosphere, The Club would conduct a month long summer camp from June 1, 2016.
The Academy at TDI International School would tap into the immense sporting heritage and talent which is the hallmark of Sonepat and Haryana allowing the Club to identify and develop talent and reintroducing the game of football in the City. Nestled in a sprawling 200 acre TDI City, the Academy boasts of world class infrastructure catering to age groups between 6 and 17 years. The Club would be introducing modern methods of football coaching including the best practices observed globally.
All players would be monitored using advanced player development tools resulting in an individualized training module under the guidance of Club Technical Directors with regular visits from senior team players to inspire and guide these players. There are plans to convert this academy into a residential set up in the coming years.
Speaking on the occasion, Prashant Agarwal, President Delhi Dynamos FC, said, ‘We are proud to launch our first academy in Sonepat in partnership with TDI International School as part of our campaign to develop the game in North India. We will soon be launching multiple academies in North India with an elite academy in Greater Noida which would be up and running by August this year followed by our elite residential academy with world class facilities in Ekana, Lucknow later this year. We are also partnering with Subroto Cup, the largest grassroots tournament in India in addition to establishing permanent youth teams. Our youth team is slated to participate in this years’ Gothia Cup which is the largest grassroots level competition in the World.’
Raman Vijayan, Technical Director,Delhi Dynamos FC and Former India National Team Player, said, ‘We have held around 20 clinics over the past year and the level of participation and enthusiasm has only been increasing. The recent trials for the Reliance Foundation Young Champs saw more than 350 kids. We have a huge pool of budding talent in North India and such academies are the logical next step to hone this talent to produce top players in the coming years. The players in the Academy would be given professional coaching adopting best training module. With plans of establishing a permanent youth team, the Club has been scouting and holding multiple trials.’
Speaking about the initiative, Mr. Akshay Taneja, Vice Chairman of TDI Group, said, “It is really a matter of pride to see our inherent philosophy of creating a societal impact taking a tangible form through football. This follows our vision to make TDI International School a truly world class sporting school. I feel particularly privileged because through this one of its kind academy with Delhi Dynamos FC, we can now bring the immense footballing talent of Sonepat to the forefront and nurture them to make our country proud. This partnership is the start of a long and fruitful initiative and together we can create a lot of synergies where we are also exploring the possibility of opening similar Academies in other TDI townships."
With this, the Club has embarked upon a journey to take football to the masses thereby increasing the popularity of the game. The objective is to create a robust ecosystem in Delhi and North India where multiple academies are planned to be launched to teach the Delhi Dynamos philosophy of football. Top players would be regularly scouted by the Delhi Dynamos Technical Directors and inducted into Development Centres under a scholarship model. The cream of the talent from this pool would then be sent to its residential academy coming up in Ekana, Lucknow to nurture the next star of India by providing the best of training, infrastructure, international exposure, injury management etc.
The Club also recently partnered with West Bromwich Albion to launch a new and unique initiative ‘Pass It Forward’ in association with Delhi State Government, Youth Football International and University of Wolverhampton. The partnership will be providing personnel to instil Premier league coaching values across 1200 schools in the region with technical and managerial support from Delhi Dynamos FC.