Weeks: ‘Premier League matches possible in India’

Jeremy Weeks, the Head Coach of Premier Skills Education Programme, a joint venture in collaboration with British Council and Sports Authority of India, is impressed with the passion for football in India.

Published : Jun 30, 2017 22:21 IST , New Delhi

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Jeremy Weeks, the Head Coach of Premier Skills Education Programme, a joint venture in collaboration with British Council and Sports Authority of India, is impressed with the passion for football in India. He spoke with Sportstar about the venture, football in India and his experience.

Excerpts:

Experience with Premier Skills: Premier Skills was started in 2007. I joined it two years later and have been with them since. It has travelled to 28 countries. Here, in India, AIFF, ISL, SAI are in collaboration with us. We have had a significant impact during whatever time we have been in India. Apart from community and grassroot work, some fun, activity, team tactics, ability, gender, disability also comes along with it. Overall, a great experience on being part of it.

What impressed him the most: Passion for the game. Also, passion for the trainees to continue learning the game and its coaching methods. The thing I have seen is they want to become better and better, are enthusiastic about premier league and its coaches. We are sharing our experience with them so that they understand more about it.

On FIFA U-17 World Cup in India: Firstly, it’s great that England qualified for the tournament. I hope that everybody sees the passion India has for football. This could be the catalyst for Indian football. If the event is successful, then people will say that India can host huge events afterwards. Not too far that Premier League matches will take place in India.

Response of trainees in Delhi: - This venture works for two reasons: developing as a coach and building a coach community. Reason we train coaches is that coaches are the base creators of the game. Currently, two coaches from Manchester City are in Delhi to share their experience. The response of trainees has been fantastic. The enthusiasm shown by them has been amazing and brilliant. The advantage with this course is that it is equivalent to the coaching course of AIFF. By 2019, our mission is to produce 50 master trainees.

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