The number of youth engaging in illicit activities leading to social ills and dangerous habits such as substance abuse and gang violence are becoming more prevalent in the country. Regular physical activity builds healthy bones and muscles and fit a body, improves self-esteem, and reduces stress and anxiety. Children who undertake regular physical activity in a disciplined setting, do better in th
e academic arena and sustain mental and physical acuity into their old age. Such training is most effective when started early. Children who has had disciplined training from 6-13 years of age, studies show, retain that mental discipline throughout their life and are more inclined to lead a vigorous active life and not stray towards the ‘attractions” of crime and delinquent behavior. Considering these factors and thinking that a change can be brought to the community through football the idea of forming a football academy came into the mind and decided to form the academy in connection with an established school in Laamu Gan. With series of discussions with the school management of Ihandhdhoo School in Laamu Gan, it was decided to form the academy and name the academy as FALI that stands for “Football Academy of Laamu Ihadhdhoo”. FALI will be the brand name for the business and will initiate to establish and develop a youth development programme in the atoll to enrich the future prospects of a selected beginner’s age group between 6-13 Years (called the Grassroots Age) and thereby progress into the Youth Phase of the football development between the ages of 14-18 years, through Sports and Discipline. FALI will also look to sustain that effort for 6 years such that the youngest of the group would have reached 13 years of age thereby linking the development structure into more constructive youth development framework where the programme will be expanded and will run a youth football development programme for children from the age of 13-18 years together with the grassroots programme. This would facilitate the children who come out from the grassroots football system to receive continuous training for the next 6 years within the Youth Development Framework before stepping into the next phase of the child’s development and graduate from the academy after the child reaches 18 years of age as a more complete adult. To attract the youth and the support of the parents and community, the training will be imparted by using elite football players invited to play and coach with the kids at regular intervals that would enable to build confidence to retain and sustain the programme through on-going continuous training and coaching activities whilst instilling moral values and helping to improve the child’s academic performance at school. Further the programme will find ways to get opportunity for the kids to play in international youth tournaments that would give them more exposure and competitiveness while growing up as an individual. The programme will be managed by a FALI and govern by a Programme Board (PB) comprising of members from the school, PTA, Gan Council and a member from the Atoll Council represented by the Gan constituency. This is to give more ownership to the community and gain support from the people in the community. Mauroof Ahmed (Maattey) will also sit in the board as the founder of this initiative. FALI will also seek technical guidance and support from the National Football Association of Maldives, National Olympic Committee and other sports clubs and authorities in the country. In addition to that, all technical and managerial input to enhance and sustain quality of coaching and the management of the academy will be also provided by Mauroof Ahmed (Maattey) who is a qualified and an experience football coach with great football success. He had also worked for the Football Association of Maldives as the Technical Director involving in the development of football in Maldives. Mauroof also holds a Master’s Degree in International Sports Management and is currently working for the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) as the Programme Coordinator for the LECReD programme in Laamu Atoll. Mauroof, FALI will constantly coordinate with the Football Association of Maldives to train coaches who will be employed to kick start the programme and thereby will continue to upgrade their coaching skills by providing annual coach-education through seminars and workshops held locally and nationally. As for the start-up, the programme requires a total MVR180,000 for the purchase of equipment, training attire, launching costs and training of coaches. All start-up finance will be generated through donations and contributions from sports lovers in the country. There will be recurrent expenses expected to be incurred throughout the programme. The recurrent expenses include the wages of coaches and the Administration and Marketing Assistant to be hired for the programme and other variable costs. In order to meet the operational need and to ensure the sustainability of the programme, it is designed to generate revenue through the sale of membership, organize invitational tournaments, attraction of sponsorship, seeking donations and sale of merchandise. It is expected to generate an average of MVR190,000 as operating income during the first year and MVR100,000 in the subsequent years. With the effective and successful delivery of the programme, the outcome of the programme will enhance the child’s performance at school, development of the psycho-motor skills of the child, strengthening of community bonding and the demand created to replicate the programme into other islands and atolls are indicators as how success of this programme will be measured.
