I-LEAGUE Media Team

NEW DELHI: Defending U19 I-League Champions Tata Football Academy take on Hindustan FC in their first encounter in the competition this season on Sunday at the Ambedkar Stadium here.

The academy colts will be lead by Head Coach Mr. Gordon Young, and the following are the routines they followed looking forward to the tournament:

• The TFA U19 team were given 3 weeks’ holiday to regenerate in late December last year.
• A maintenance programme of 2 weeks were given with then to perform off-site.
• A 4-week preparation programme was inducted in January, which was divided between technical and tactical activities, where 2 practice matches were played internally within the Academy’s 2 squads.
• 2 matches were played against the Jharkhand team – chosen for Santosh trophy.
• Individual practice programmes are set out for players, where the focus is on allocation of Individual strength and condition programmes.

In short, the Tata Football Academy squad for the U-19 I-League 2014-15 has been made up with junior and senior cadets, selected with a long term development plan in mind. The Players are encouraged to be positive at all times and play with no fear as results are secondary to the standard of play.

TFA and Sheffield United F.C. recently entered into an agreement that would see technical and strength and conditioning coaches from Sheffield, visit Jamshedpur on a regular basis over the next three years. The purpose of the link, in addition to fostering good relations, is to help TFA develop a coaching programme based on the best practices as used at some of the leading clubs in Europe. Also the intention is to develop alongside a strength and conditioning programme which will help the young players to reach peak performance by fulfilling their physical potential particularly as far as Strength, Agility, Power, Balance and Coordination is concerned.

“I am a development coach and not a performance coach driven by results. With this in mind the strive should always be “wanting to win” whilst playing in a manner which will allow each and every player the opportunity to display decision making situations in matches which will provide a learning bank for their future progress in football.” – Gordon Young, International Academy Manager, Sheffield United FC

(inputs from Tata Academy)