MONTHLY NEWSLETTER February 2022
Coach's Note Sandro Salami Head of Youth
Greetings, parents and guardians! After a tough January, February has been a lot more productive for us. February has been a month of preparation for us, on the pitch. We have been hard at work getting our players back into competitive form, as well as we prepare to start playing against outside teams again! We have been working very hard to arrange games, both in Mumbai and across the country. March will hopefully see us play games against teams from Bengaluru, Mumbai, and other parts of the country, and while we are excited and ready to go, we are mindful of the need to stay vigilant and keep our players safe. All necessary COVID protocols will be followed,
and the importance of the same is being impressed upon the players as well. We have undertaken regular, stringent testing, and will continue to do so even during the tournaments With all our physical testing done, and the players fit and firing, we are excited about what the next few months have in store for us!
Counsellor's Note Padma Rewari Head of Child Welfare and Education
Dear parents and guardians, After the dissatisfaction of having to stay indoors comes the excitement of new possibilities! As Sandro would've told you. we are looking to start playing competitively again next month, and all of us here at RFYC are really excited! But, as always at our Academy, development on the pitch goes hand in hand with education off it. February has been a month of exams, with the boys from 8th, 9th, and 11th grade sitting for their final exams. The boys spent most of their time during lockdown preparing hard, and have enjoyed the fruits of their labours! They are all confident of having done well in their exams.
This month's Spotlight contains an interview with Merlyn! As mentioned last month, she has joined us as a counsellor, and her work is already resonating positively with the boys! I have no doubt that she will prove to be a valuable addition to our team going forward. Lastly, Merlyn and I have been attending seminars and webinars to keep abreast with the latest developments in child psychology and cyber welfare for children and young adults. We use the learnings from these sessions with our boys, and the trends are positive so far! And with that, I'll take your leave for now. I hope you all are doing well, and are safe.
Spotlight
Sanatomba U - 16 Midfielder
Tell us a little about yourself. I am from Manipur. I started playing football with my friends from a very young age but I took it seriously once I turned 10 and I started going for proper training session from 2015 . My ambition is to become professional footballer. I like to listen to music and I like playing video games in my free time.
You have a few matches coming up in the next month. What are you most excited about? As we all haven't played matches against other team or participate in any competition for a very long time. I am very excited about the coming matches in the next month. I think it will be a great opportunity to show what we trained about in this period.
What are your targets for these matches? My main target will be making the most out of this matches by giving my best and trying to implement all the things that I have learned during these years.
Who is your football idol?
My football idol is Luka Modric. I really admire his control over the ball and his ability to read the game and also like his quality of passing with his outside foot.
If you were a player in FIFA or PES, what would your rating be, and which club would you be playing for? I would like to play for Man City, and I think my rating should be around 45 to 50 at the beginning!
Spotlight
Merlyn Martin
I have represented my state for athletics since I was in grade 8 Tell us a little about yourself. Hey, I am Merlyn Martin and I am an intern Counsellor under Padma Ma'am in the Welfare Department at RFYC. I did my post graduation in Counselling Psychology from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Before joining at RFYC, I was working as a Counselling Psychologist with a corporate wellness firm along with freelancing with my college friends in providing affordable mental health services for students and adults. I was born and raised in Ahmedabad, but my native is Kerala. I did my schooling and graduation in Gujarat and I have represented my state for athletics since I was in grade 8 till the time I finished school and later on for basketball during my Graduation years. Coming from a family of sports enthusiasts, I was put in some or the other sport since my first grade and that I'd say has sort of made me a Jill of all and master of none when it comes to being a player.
Studying human behaviour, reactions and emotions is extremely intriguing
You’re an athlete yourself. How did the shift to Counselling and Psychology happen? I've been playing sports for a major portion of my life, but with that I've also managed to give an equal importance to my education, thanks to my Malayalee parents who were very persistent about good grades. Psychology wasn't something that I chose from the very beginning, but it was after I was introduced to the subject during my college first year, that I started gaining interest in it. Studying human behaviour, reactions and emotions is extremely intriguing even for someone who isn't familiar with the field. As a person I am very empathetic and a good listener which also aligned with the skills required for a Counselling Psychologist and that is what made me chose counselling particularly. Honestly speaking, I feel that back when I was still a performing athlete, after a point I thought/ believed that I had sort of reached my threshold and there's no going forward from here and gradually and organically I moved away from being an athlete to focussing only on my education. Thankfully for me I had found the subject that interests me alot and even more so when practicing as a psychologist. It's a wholesome experience to be able to give someone the space and openness where they can be unapologetically themselves and become a version of what they aspire to be.
Padma Ma'am is a great mentor and also a very warm person!
How has your experience at RFYC been so far? It's been only two months that I've started and i have been working from home so I would say I've had very little of the RFYC experience. Nevertheless, it has been really nice and luckily for me, Padma Ma'am is the department head and she is a great mentor but also a very warm person and that makes it very amazing working with her. My interactions with some of the other staff have also been positive so far. I've got to meet some of the academy boys online on zoom calls and it was lovely interacting with them and knowing them. I'm looking forward to joining at the academy from March and meet the boys and everyone in the staff in person! Honestly, I feel really lucky to be a part at RFYC, as I've always loved being on the pitch as a player when I was younger and this time around I will get to work with players who are on their journey to becoming pro players. And as a Psychologist I would say that I really resonate with the kind of mindset that these Young Champs have.
We then have one-on-one sessions with the boys to know about their well being and to understand what they need assistance with. What does a typical day look like for you? I do not have a 'typical' schedule per se, because I've been working from home. Since at the Welfare department, we work around the needs and assistance that the boys would require off the pitch, our schedule really depends on what the need of the hour is.
But still typically, a 'normal' day would look something like this: 9:30 we used to have an online morning meeting, after which Padma Ma'am and I would have our welfare department meeting where we plan for the rest of the day. We then have meetings with the boys online for one-on-one sessions to know about their well being and to understand from them what they would need assistance with. Apart from that I have also been attending some of the skill building sessions with the boys to understand where they are and how can we help them in improving themselves. All of this typically happens before the boys leave for training in the evening. After that, Padma Ma'am and I get on a call discuss about the work done, the work that needs to be done and also if there's any feedback regarding the same. In the later part of the day I usually go out to spend time and hang out with my friends or go to play ball. Since I will be leaving from home to be at the academy, I'm trying to make the most of the time that I have here with family and friends.
My focus will be on working on the life skills development for each player and helping them improve their noncognitive skills What are your main focus areas now that you’re here?
Firstly, I'm very grateful to be here. There's a lot to learn, a lot to experience and I'm looking forward to all of it. Secondly, the focus is primarily on the holistic wellbeing of the boys off the pitch. It's evident that young boys need to be assisted and guided for a lot of things outside the pitch too and that is where the Welfare department comes in. My focus will be on working on the life skills development for each player and helping them improve their non-cognitive skills, such as social and behavioral skills which would enable them to deal effectively with everyday life situations. With that I would also like to help each player assess their strengths and weaknesses and work on building them effectively to make the most of them. Safeguarding the children against all sorts of perversions by advocating, reinforcing and implementing child rights and safety policies is also a significant matter that the welfare department looks into. Apart from that, I will also be assisting the head of the department in providing all sorts of resources that a child would need for their overall development. Lastly, my focus is on connecting with the children and providing them the space and assistance where they can be the best version of themselves.
We'd love to hear from you. Please write to us at contact@rfyounchamps.org