The future of Goan football was best seen in display as Dempo Sports Club successfully organized its first U-10 Grassroots Football Festival the Duler stadium in Mapusa.
Dempo junior coaches along with club volunteer’s mobilized to organize the first in a series of football festivals planned by the Panjim based club.
More than 200 boys from all across Goa enjoyed playing at the football festival which was held on a Sunday morning. The chairman of Dempo Group of Companies, Mr. Shrinivas V. Dempo was the chief guest for the function.
The festival was aimed at creating a learning environment for 8-10 year old children and to give them an opportunity to learn the best practices on a football pitch.
Matthew Costa welcomed the teams while Gavin Araujo was in-charge of the festival. The stadium was divided into technical zones and playing stations. Each team had to pass through the zones and stations as directed by the volunteers. All the children participated in various activities like shooting, dribbling, passing, throwing and small sided games.
The festival also attracted the parents of the young footballers and were seen cheering for their wards from the stands.
Senior players like Roberto Mendes D’silva, Samir Naik, Mahesh Gawli along with others paid a visit to the stadium to cheer the young children. Speaking to the children during a break Beto said that the boys reminded him of his childhood and wished that more such festivals should be conducted to encourage football at the grassroots level.
At the end of the festival all children received souvenirs and also enjoyed the photo sessions along with their parents and coaching staff.
The General Secretary of Dempo SC, Mr. Alberto Colaco gave the vote of thanks and expressed his gratitude to the participating teams.
Following teams took part in the festival – Sporting Club de Goa, Salgaocar FC, Salcete FC grassroots centres (Tilamol and Don Bosco, Margao), GFDC Grassroots Centres (Valpoi and Khandepar) , St. Brittos H.S (Mapusa) , Fr. Agnel H.S (Pilar), Ideal High School Taleigao and Chubby Cheeks, Porvorim.
