Their vision may be impaired but their football dreams need not be. Not anymore.
As visually challenged footballers imagine their own Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo acts, support is in the offing to light up those dreams. A football academy for the visually challenged, claimed to be India’s first, may turn operational in Kochi by the end of this year. The primary goal is to build a national squad capable of qualifying for the 2024 Paralympics. The academy will be run by the Kerala Blind Football Federation.
Crack at Olympics
Last September the Indian blind football team had a crack at qualifying from Asia for the Rio 2016 Paralympics. The eventual qualifiers Iran and China trounced India and the country ended up with a devastating five straight defeats.
“We are already in talks with a few pan-India corporate houses for support. The academy is being planned as an incubator, where the inmates would be given both football and vocational training – the latter to enable them to pursue an independent life,” said Sunil J. Mathew, sporting director of the Kerala Blind Football Federation, an initiative of the Kochi-based Society for Rehabilitation of Visually Challenged (SRVC).
The academy would need an initial investment of around Rs.50 lakh for the first year. Its operations would be scaled up in due course depending on corporate support and the demands of potential beneficiaries.
Initially, a batch of 20 talented young players, including those who have already played for India, would be admitted to the academy, which would also feature a state-of-the-art gym. Football training sessions would be held in the mornings and evenings with the help of internationally reputed coaches. Daytime would be devoted to vocational training in computer skills, foreign language, and reflexology. Knowing a foreign language is expected to help them land jobs like that of translators in star hotels and airport help desks. The SRVC has already held discussions with Cochin International Airport Limited on this.
“The visually challenged are globally recognised for their inherent finesse with touch, and are employed as masseurs in spas abroad. We aim to tap this avenue through reflexology training,” Mr. Mathew said.
