Football and Goa are synonymous. Goa’s love for this sport is not new and cashing on this since 2000, a former player and football lover, Fabiano DeSouza is aiming at spreading the football fever across the State through his brainchild - Goa United Sports Academy.
As founder, owner and head coach of this sports academy Fabiano speaks of his ambitious project that kick started on May 10 which will coach boys and girls in football as well as various other sports, saying that he is happy to see the number of registrations increasing with every passing day.
“Collaborating with Calangute Association our football youth project will be a role model for the village of Calangute. St Joseph’s High School in Calangute has agreed to serve as the ground where children from the surrounding villages will gather, learn and exhibit their talents in sports. Four coaches including a girl’s coach will train these future sportspersons. Organising events and other activities and involving schools, parents, teachers and the society as well, funds would be raised and as more teams are formed exhibition matches between the centres will entertain the villagers. Beginning with Calangute and making it a role model for one whole year, the project would gradually expand to other areas,” briefs Fabiano.
Initiating such projects and giving them shape is not new for Fabiano as Goa United Sports Association has offered free coaching to over 1500 boys and little less than 200 girls in football since 2000. The demand for football is ever increasing and Fabiano is sure of capturing the spirit of Goa soon. The association has gifted players like Mandar Desai and Pratesh Shirodkar who are playing for FC Goa today. While Mandar is a product of St Brito’s High School, Mapusa and Goa United Sports Association, Pratesh, a player of Little Flowers School was trained by Fabiano’s association. “We have minted many more talented footballers and if I name only a few, it will be injustice to others,” says the player in Fabiano.
Why is he so committed to this game? “Football is in my blood. I was the caption of both my school team at St Anthony’s Monte de Guirim and at St Xavier’s Higher Secondary at Mapusa. But when I was in D M G Bandekar College in Assagaon, I got injured. This kept me away from pursuing my career as a football player. But I didn’t give up. I thought of being the mentor of other boys and girls and so founded my association,” states Fabiano who after initial hiccups succeeded in gathering a sizable number of enthusiastic students and coaches to train them. This mission continues even today, all free of cost. “It’s my tribute to this game,” he smiles.
The story goes like this - Fabiano arranged a football tournament that collected a profit of Rs 11,000. He purchased some footballs and gave an advertisement on cable television asking young boys and girls to register with his association for free training - the age being six onwards till under 18. The first day 90 students enrolled, second day saw 150. The number kept increasing. Finally with 300 kids the association began free training. Coaches like Bruno Coutinho, Alex Miranda, Edmond (Eddie) Fernandes, Dominic D’Souza, John Coutinho, Alex Alvares, Salu Fernandes, Vasu Chodankar, Marceleno Fernandes, Augustinho Dias, Gaja Kerkar, Valentine among others offered their free services and trained for years. Kids from Candolim, Parra, Saligao also joined. The number of grounds increased from one to many. The association and the students worked hard to make Poriat ground ready. The demands from children from Divar, Moira and Guirim poured too.
“We began coaching girls in 2005,” shares Fabiano who saw to it that all the students practiced for three days and attended their tuition classes for the rest three days. Schools and teachers joined hands with him in allowing play time. As goes the saying, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, the future players are enjoying their game. Fabiano couldn’t live his dream but he has offered an open, free ground for thousands of budding talents to come, play and achieve success in sports. Thankful for this noble act of his, parents are happy that instead of their children turning to bad vices, are getting addicted to football and getting high.
