Harsh Mandavia of SuperSkills UK is coach for the newly formed football team of Krishna Avanti Primary School in Harrow. Avanti Life grabs him at half-time for the latest report
Is SuperSkills your own business? What inspired you to work with kids?
Yes it’s my own business. SuperSkills was formed and developed in Indonesia by ex-professional Dale Mulholland, who I first met when I was out there for 5 months coaching for Arsenal Soccer Schools Indonesia. I loved the idea behind SuperSkills – which was to create “Ronaldo”-like and “Messi”-like players for every team – and went into talks with him about franchising it out to the UK. We’re currently the only SuperSkills franchise operating in UK.
My first experience of coaching in a school and seeing the positive influence we had on each child was truly inspiring. As coaches, to have a child learn from you, respect you and develop through your coaching, it’s an amazing feeling. At the same time, refining a child’s mindset for the positive growth and development of society – to create a better future for the children – is a challenge we accept daily and include as part of our regular responsibilities.
How did the Krishna Avanti / SuperSkills partnership begin?
We’ve been coaching at KAPS Harrow since April 2013. We advertised our after school club programme to several schools in the area. KAPS was one of the schools who found it of interest and got in touch with us. We set up a demo for the children, which they thoroughly enjoyed, and soon after that we began the club once a week. Once the results of our unique training methods started to show and the popularity of the club increased, we set up an additional day so more children could have the chance to enrol. We now have 75 children in total enrolled into our after school clubs at KAPS and we’re really happy at how well they’re progressing through our martial-arts style belts grading system.
Is there anything you’ve noticed that stands out about the kids here?
We can really feel the unity between the children here. The support and encouragement they give each other is such a positive thing to see. Each student in our clubs is always willing to help another learn a skill they may have mastered, wishing the others good luck when they’re about to be graded, and they show great sportsmanship during the 1-v-1 Soccer games we play as part of our training. In fact, this unity was the reason our coaches believed it would be great for these children to form a school team.
Are there other ways the kids might benefit, like on a personal level?
SuperSkills teaches the skills as per our name – “Super” Skills – i.e. Above and beyond normal skills. It is true we start from the very basic skill set, but these children are developing and perfoming skills and tricks with the ball that they never would have imagined they could do. Take balancing the ball on their foot for example, and then flicking it up, and catching it again on their foot. I, myself learned this skill when I was 16 years old, and these children have mastered it already. They’re all turning into the cool kid who can do so many tricks and show off with the ball – the cool kid that we always wanted to be! Their self-confidence is rising, and it’s not just the boys, it’s the girls as well! Incredible!
[quote float=”right”]”The players know each other so well that I’m sure they’ll unite well for the game against Deansbrook”[/quote]
What was behind the idea for a school football team?
I discussed this project with Mrs. Sahni about a year ago – when I thought there were some talented players with potential who could represent the school well if the school had a team. The project kicked off (excuse the pun) from there really. We set up lunchtime training sessions for Years 4, 5 and 6, with the idea being that the school would have a Year 6 Football Team (with a few exceptional Year 5’s) and the Year 4’s would just be starting their team training early so that when they reach Year 5/6, they know how to play with each other and are ready to fill the shoes.
Do you have plans for the team to compete on a regular basis?
We’re hoping to enter a regional league starting next academic year. We don’t know the details of which league or fixtures yet, but I’m building contacts with other schools and finding out what leagues they are part of. I assume in any league, half the fixtures will be at home and half will be away. KAPS Harrow has an excellent 3G Astro-turf pitch, which we can make use of as the host venue.
How many year groups in the school could potentially form teams?
I see Years 3 and 4 as the developing stages, which means no matches for them, but we can start training them to have the skillset required to play in a team. School matches will be more for the Year 5’s and 6’s.
What’s the atmosphere among the Krishna Avanti Lions team towards the upcoming match with Deansbrook?
They’re so excited! They’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I believe the internal matches we’ve been having between the Year 5 team and Year 6 team has helped them develop the competitive edge, as well as learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses. As a result, the players know each other so well that I’m sure they’ll unite well for the game against Deansbrook.
What sort of an outcome are you hoping for?
Deansbrook are a good side. It’ll be interesting to see how well we do in our first game against another school. I won’t be putting any pressure on them for a result, I want them to enjoy this experience and learn from any mistakes. If we play well as a team and encourage each other, it’ll be a very close game.
[box]Read the match report here >[/box]
