Ever since COVID-19 started, everyone, including the staff at South United, has been waiting in anticipation as to when regular football would start. The psychological stress of being isolated and staying at home affects students immensely. With schools, parks, and playgrounds being closed, their usual lifestyles have been disrupted, creating both distress and confusion for them.
Earlier their learning experiences were through face to face coaching techniques. Practicing in a coach’s physical presence was the routine for them, and environmental factors played huge a role in keeping them motivated.
While discussing all the necessary safety precautions, after many meetings and discussions, it was decided that training would resume, albeit online. The sessions garnered a lot of interest, and after speaking to the parents of the students who train at South United, online football training classes were started.
South United started these sessions, with the students from Bangalore and Mumbai, as an effort to also help them deal with the current situation. The classes are held over Zoom for boys and girls who are 8 years and above. The classes are organized, keeping proper safety measures in mind, since the students would be playing at their own homes, with a coach present only on video. It is a programme which students take time to adapt to as they are doing something out of the ordinary, like learning football over the internet.
South United’s coaches work as a team to help every student to complete their drills and exercises in a safe and fun way, while also helping them familiarize themselves with this style of coaching and become more attentive.
Coaches prepare different sessions according to the situation, as well as the space and resources available to the students. In this type of coaching, students would either be training alone or with the help of a parent or sibling, which is also taken into consideration. Football is a team sport, and hence to overcome these challenges, coaches have to improvise and come up with creative and effective solutions.
The response to these classes has been great, and both coaches and students are learning to adjust to this way of teaching. The aim is to allow students to still be a part of the game, even if it cannot be in person and continue their growth and development in the process. South United aims to reach out to the students of the footballing community and keep them engaged until regular football training can resume.
For more details about South United’s Online Football Training Programmes, call 08296193556.
