Chhetri to hold ‘unique’ camp

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Sunil Chhetri

India football team captain Sunil Chhetri will give budding talent an opportunity to train under him during a “unique” eight-day camp, to be held in the capital from June 16.

According to the ace striker, his initiative will be different from other camps.
“It’s not just a camp pulled out from the dictionary. The idea is to give the kids a proper feeling of how a training process should be. A budding footballer needs to balance practice, diet and rest at the same time. But someone needs to tell them about it.
“I will be personally talking and interacting with the kids and tell them about the mistakes which I made at their age. I will also have a separate session with parents. We will take care of the kitting. Nike will be supplying the balls and the kids will be given clean drinking water and proper nutrition in between and after the sessions.
“The first two days will be the trials practice sessions have been slated for the next four days. Practice matches would take place during the last two days,” he said.
Asked how the idea came, he said, “Some time back, some of my friends came up to me with the idea of opening a football academy in New Delhi. I was a bit skeptical at the outset simply because sustaining an academy is a huge thing. Instead, I told them to have a coaching camp and revisit the idea of the academy later on. We will revisit the concept after maybe organise another camp three months later. If at that stage we feel we can sustain an academy, we will take the plunge.
“We will have a separate batch for the U-12 to 14 boys and another one for U-16 boys. There’s also an open category for U-18 girls. We will finalise the timings depending on the response,” he added.
Asked which club colours he would be donning next season, Chhetri said, “I haven’t decided it yet and haven’t signed for any club. In any case, I have to go back to Sporting Lisbon and discuss the possibilities of a loan to some other club.”