Live India, Love Football

Those who work in India tend to complain about how long it takes to get anything done. Although I agree with this to some extent as there are many examples of individuals, obstacles and red tape standing in the way of forward progress, it’s worth noting that the lack of structure in the country opens the door for projects to get completed with unprecedented velocity as well. One such example of this is the recent football conference which took place in Delhi called Goal 2013. This was a concept discussed during a meeting between my colleagues at Libero Sports and our peers at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).  We recognized that there is a need and a demand for a platform where all industry stakeholders can get together to have focused, strategic discussions on the future of the beautiful game in India.  Rather than wait for someone else to put it together, we chose to do it ourselves to get the property off the ground. What trans...

Long distance running was never something I thought I would take up when I moved to India, but already I’ve run 3 half marathons and one full one since moving here.  My 4 th half marathon took place over the weekend and it was a special one as I chose to fly alone to a new part of India – Auroville/ Pondicherry – and run the 21km route. I won’t go into detail, but will just share the following about my experience: Travelling to a new place alone is both liberating and lonely but it’s something I completely recommend that every one does at least once in their life Even though I didn’t train at all I still completed the half marathon in 2 hours which validates my belief that long distance running is more mental than physical The more simple the operations are for a long distance event, the more fun and intimate it becomes There is nothing like completing a long run and then jumping into the ocean  I plan to take many more trips around the country using l...

Okay, anyone who has met me for 2 minutes or has been reading this blog or seen or read some of the interviews I have done in the past can tell that I love my job.  Through this job I’ve been able to combine 3 of my passions which are football, travel and exploring India which makes it quite difficult to ever truly have a “bad day at the office.” Although that sounds cheesy and almost unrealistic, I wholeheartedly mean this.  Furthermore beyond rarely or never having a “bad day at the office,” I’ve been able to enjoy certain perks of the job which I never intended to happen however thoroughly appreciate when they do. I could write about many different types of perks (many I already have in previous posts), however for this post I’ll focus on an experience I had on my recent trip to Goa. We hired a man named Tassos Sioulas to oversee the technical aspects of our client Sesa Football Academy. Tassos is from Greece and has had an illustrious coaching career with a couple C...

Two of my favorite things in the world are going to the beach and football so needless to say that the concept of beach football ranks high in my book of pleasures. I prefer playing, but am perfectly comfortable watching given that typically spectators at a beach football event get to enjoy beautiful scenery, a cool breeze, fun music and nice cold drink while taking in the action. India is a country full of beaches, some beautiful and some unfortunately littered with trash, stray dogs and feces. These beaches exist along the coastline of the entire country with the well known beaches existing in the Southwest primarily in places like Mumbai, Goa and Kerala.  I’ve fortunately been to many of the more popular beaches in India and have always been pleasantly surprised to witness youth enjoying a game of football on some patch of the beach. It helps football’s cause since playing cricket is virtually impossible on sand J Even with the interest of beach football in these coas...

Since moving to the US in 1965, my Father has fortunately or unfortunately never looked back. Upon landing in Detroit, he not only took care of himself and eventually the rest of our immediate family, he supported most of his 8 brothers and sisters to come over to the "land of opportunity" as well. Inside of all of this responsibility, he never took the time to go back and visit his roots which in this case is his home in Kashipura, a humble farming village located about an hour away from Vadodara, Gujarat.  I remember visiting this village on my first trip to India in 2007. I had heard a few stories about my Father's childhood and was very curious to step foot in the same place where my he had spent the first 9 years of his life. My parents have raised me in a nice home near one of the most popular beaches in Orange County, California and I could never imagine that my Father could have actually grown up in a place like Kashipura which has more buffaloes living there ...

I truly believe that the best things in life happen when people follow their hearts and are willing to be unreasonable.  I experienced the truth of this statement for the umpteenth time last Saturday. The story begins in Phagwara, Punjab a few weeks back. I was having a quick lunch with my friend Sanjeev Parmar who happened to be in India visiting family and checking in on the coaches and players at YFC Rurka Kalan. He is one of the most incredible youth football coaches I have ever met and currently runs a successful Academy in Ottawa, Canada. We have been meeting regularly over the past few years during his annual visits to India and I know that on one of these visits I will convince him to move here full-time to support the development of the game.  During our south Indian lunch, I quickly mentioned that there is a wonderful football Academy run out of a slum that I’d love to take him to. I had already moved on to the next topic when he said that he would take an ear...

It’s Christmas Day and I’m on the train heading back to Delhi from YFC Rurka Kalan in Punjab and feeling high on life. It is the most natural high I’ve felt in awhile.   4 days enjoying simple village life: eating, working out, long walks, playing football, reading and sleeping.   People always say that some of the best talent comes from rural areas and I now believe it more than ever. The boys living in this Punjabi village eat, sleep, drink and breath football.  Outside of school there is little to keep them busy so they spend their free time helping maintain the pitch, working with some of the younger players, watching premiership and La Liga matches on TV, talking about their past or upcoming matches, training (2x a day) and dreaming about their careers.  They are hard-working, focused, humble and have committed themselves to continually developing their game. The above can be said about the players in most village Academies, however what’s special about...