Srinagar, May 22 Football coaches from across Jammu and Kashmir took part in a virtual workshop designed to enhance their knowledge-base and skills, conducted by former India international Mehrajuddin Wadoo and ex national women’s team coach Sajid Dar.

The workshop was held to give budding coaches an opportunity to interact with domain experts on different aspects of their role as on-ground activities were stalled due to coronavirus-forced lockdown.

The three-day workshop was organised by Reliance Foundation Youth Sports (RFYS) in collaboration with the Association of Indian Football Coaches (AIFC).

It was attended by 32 coaches from educational institutes in Srinagar, Jammu, Pulwama, Kulgam, Anantnag Kathua, Shopia, Budgam and Baramula.

Over the course of two hour sessions, the coaches were provided insight into the code of conduct expected from them towards players, parents, referees and fellow coaches.

The challenges of protecting children under their watch from physical, emotional, psychological, sexual and financial exploitation were also elaborated upon.

“In the four years I have spent working as a team manager and assistant coach, this was honestly the first such workshop I attended,” said Sameer Gowhar from the Sports Council Football Academy in Anantnag.

“There are some good coaches around who are already doing a great job but we need to reach out to places where we don’t have any qualified coaches,” explained Dar.

Wadoo, who played for India from 2005 to 2011, has a glittering CV that includes Federation Cup, IFA Shield and Nehru Cup titles.

He was also a member of the Chennaiyin FC squad that won the ISL trophy in 2015 and is currently serving as assistant coach of Hyderabad FC.

Dar, who has represented Jammu and Kashmir in the Santosh Trophy, is an AIFF C License Coach Educator and an AFC A License holder. He was also a former coach of the Indian national youth team. News source: PTI