CHENNAI: Two women have had only one goal for many kids, and named it Great Goals! Meet Sandhya Rajan and Priya Gopalen, founders of this initiative, who knew that their sons were passionate about football, but realised that something was missing when they saw them play in the field. “It was a joke when I first told Sandhya that we should bring the change ourselves, but we started Great Goals in three months,” shared Priya.
Their tagline reads ‘Where skill meets fun!’ Start talking to them about the programme, and their excitement is palpable. “We designed the programme according to what a parent would expect from a coaching centre and also what a child would expect. We felt that the kids should have fun and also be trained well at the same time,” smiled Sandhya.
Great Goals was set up in 2013, with only soccer for under 10 and under 8. Sandhya and Priya felt that it is important for the children to know the basics of football and started with skill training. When they realised there were a few kids who wanted to train for a sport for competitive reasons, they decided to conduct in-house leagues called the Great Goals League.
The basketball programme was started in 2014 as a summer camp because the duo wanted to encourage girls in sports. “We found that not many girls had enrolled in football; so we started the Under 14 programme on a ground in Kotturpuram,” said Priya. “We also started a programme called Just For Girls from age 8 to 16, and they loved it.”
Ask the two what they aim at, and they say, “We want to teach kids to accept failure; they may lose a few matches while they may win a few. Learning how to accept failure, how to treat their peers, how to behave with their coaches, and also discipline, punctuality, etc are a few little things we teach kids at Great Goals.”
Great Goals usually takes school grounds on rent for coaching. They are hosting their annual city-wide tournament for kids below 14 on September 4.
For details call 9884632038