On September 30, a bunch of young lads in yellow shocked the Chandigarh Football Academy 3-0 to lift the 9th Administrator’s Challenge Cup All India Under-17 Football Tournament at Chandigarh. It was not a flash in the pan. Seven days earlier, the boys from Orissa had blanked holders Mohun Bagan SAIL Football Academy with the same 3-0 margin to send a message that they were on their way to the top.
Back in Sambalpur the same evening, one man was busy calling up newspaper and TV offices to share the glory of the young team, so that they got their due in the media next morning. Sambalpur Football Academy (SFA) has arrived. In the last couple of years, it has made a name for itself in the under-17 circuit. As Brazilian coach Carlos Roberto wrote in the visitor’s book, “The present and future of Indian football are here in the academy.”
Behind the success of SFA is one man’s passion — for the game and for youngsters from across the country who dream of playing for India. Jayanarayan Mishra is well known in local politics, but few knew of his love for soccer. Today, every time he visits the sprawling campus of the Academy, he makes it a point to find out about the diet, the workout regime, training and academic needs of the wards. He has been doing that for half a decade.
It was sheer chance that then Transport and Commerce Minister and Sambalpur MLA, Jayanarayan Mishra, was invited as chief guest to the finals of an annual football tourney organised by Kishore Club of Bhubaneswar. The match was between Sambalpur and Sundargarh. So impressed was football fanatic Mishra with the skills of the boys, that he went on to start an academy in hometown Sambalpur in 2005. There has been no looking back ever since.
Spread over 14 acres, the SFA has 63 boys aged below 17, 24 boys each below and above 19 years of age. While Mishra is the Managing Trustee and Administrator, other trustees include Rajib Biswas, Atanu Ghose and Debendra Panigrahi. Other administrators include Technical Director Sanmay Bose, who, along with K K Satishan, coach the seniors, while the juniors are coached by Ashok Panda and Parasar Bag.
The motto of SFA is “catch them young”, and their ultimate aim is to take India to the World Cup. And they seem to be moving in the right direction, with SFA running a school for the juniors, with teachers who lay equal thrust on study, discipline and the sport.
The day for the boys begins at six am, when they start with a session of meditation. From 6.30-8.30 am, they are in the field practicing the game, including 15 minutes of individual practice. This is followed by 15 minutes in the academy’s swimming pool.
After this, the boys shower and have breakfast before leaving for school at 10 am. At 1 pm, they take a lunch break before rejoining classes. The evening session, between 4.15-6.30 pm, is followed by study, 7-9 pm. Dinner is served at 9, and they retire early. They also workout in the gymnasium and swimming pool, and undergo pre-planned training regimen.
Mishra’s tryst with the game began in his childhood, which was reignited by the match he witnessed in 2005, after which he decided to set up the academy with Gouri Shankar Sahani and former Chief Minister R N Singhdeo.
The academy hasn’t looked back since, with prize money from tournament victories forming a major source of funds. This apart, they have a corpus fund and receive individual contributions from 1,000-odd members. While the juniors have made their presence felt in the Subroto Cup, India’s premier inter-school football tournament, two of the Academy’s players Sayed Biju Oasin and Golak Bihari Pradhan have been selected to represent Arsenal Football Club in England.