Two young and talented footballers Kartikeya Swarup and Mukul Mohindra’s skills have received a sudden shot in the arm after a training stint at the Carrington ground — the training base of Manchester United.
What added to the magic was learning the nuances of football from coaches of the Manchester United Soccer School — Andy and Nick.
“Both coaches were quite friendly to the players. They were not adamant in their thinking and also ask players to give their viewpoint unlike many Indian coaches whom I have met who are very strict and don’t allow the players to share their thoughts,” 16-year-old Swarup, who plays as a striker and was a part of the Indian U-14 team, told The Pioneer.
Swarup wants to take up football as a profession while Mohindra, who is a goalkeeper, became a footballer after being inspired by his granfather’s love for the beautiful game.
Selected as the only goalkeeper from among 150 for the Airtel Rising Stars’ 12-member team which trained in Manchester, Mohindra believes that his foreign training stint would help him in the long run.
“I learned a lot of things there. But the biggest difference between training in India and there, was the decisive training. They will work on your skill and speedwork in different sessions. They don’t mix both in a session and once you are done with skill, then only will they turn to speedwork,” Mohindra, who is a class X student of Mamta Modern school and represents Delhi Soccer School Under-16 team, explained.
Swarup, who is a class XI student of Delhi Public School, Noida felt that intensity during training sessions was the highlight of training in Manchester.
“The level of intensity was great. Although the training sessions were short in many phases, they were highly serious and intense. During practice also, they taught us how to handle different match situations which was quite good. In India, a lot of stress is given on individual skill training and not match-moments training,” Swarup said.
After returning from training in Manchester, the Delhi duo felt that the training at the Carrington ground has made them better footballers which will help them in chasing their next dream of getting into the famous Tata Football Academy or Pune FC.