For those who play football or follow the English Premier League, a chance to meet and train with coaches from one of the premier clubs — Tottenham Hotspurs in the NCR — is an opportunity not to be missed. Two coaches from the club, Daniel Peter and Gareth Jones, are in the city for three days, beginning Thursday, to train coaches and students with intellectual disabilities at the Scottish High International School.
The Tottenham Hotspur foundation, in association with Special Olympics Bharat (SOB), will provide Premier League calibre football training to coaches so that the standard of the sport improves in the country. The disability project aims to benefit 30,000 people who have an IQ of less than 70.
They are aiming at creating a social change through the power of sport by providing the best coaching opportunities to over a million young people registered in the SOB programme.
Mr. Peter said they plan to train 200 Indian coaches in Goa, Gujarat, Bengal and Haryana, who will in turn coach an additional 200 coaches. These coaches will then reach out to 30,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
Speaking about their experience in Kolkata before arriving for the Gurgaon wing of the tour, Mr. Peter said they are rolling out a unique coaching project in association with inputs provided to them by the Indian coaches so that the programme reaches out and benefits the maximum number of people.
To promote the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities, India will be participating in the 2015 Special Olympics to be held in Los Angeles.
There will be a football team as well and the effort to provide better training will hopefully help the team compete stronger.
