English Premier League side Manchester City FC conducted their MCFC football coaching clinics, a grassroots programme for young children aimed at improving their technical football skills and will include coaching on positioning, dribbling, passing and shooting the ball, in Mumbai from December 1 to 4.

The majority of the participating children in the Mumbai clinic were underprivileged kids from the NGO Magic Bus.

Former Manchester City goalkeeper Alex Williams, who is heading the coaching team, said it had been a good experience for him working with the children who are eager to learn. “It has been a great experience for me. It has been great to be part of this fantastic project working with our partners (Etihad Airways and Jet Airways). The young kids are very enthusiastic. They want to learn.”

Williams, who is also the club`s community ambassador, would train the children’s mentors from the NGO.

“We don’t come here to just conduct the clinic but we have also worked with a lot of the mentors who work with the children from the Magic Bus. We would give them some experience in delivering certain football coaching topics. They can go back and work with the kids and do some of the sessions they have seen this week,” Williams added.

Williams, who made 125 league appearances for Manchester City, speaking about India and its football said, “You need to have set infrastructure, facilities, number of people playing the game. What we have done this week could be a very very small part of that.”

The football clinics in Mumbai and in Delhi in the coming days are the first joint initiative taken-up by Etihad Airways and equity alliance partner, Jet Airways, since the transaction for the purchase of 24 percent of Jet Airways by Etihad Airways was concluded on November 20.

Etihad Airways is the shirt and title sponsor of Manchester City FC and their partnership has grown in recent years since the clubs takeover by Sheikh Mansour from the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, who also own Etihad Airways.

Earlier similar such MCFC football coaching clinics have been held in Abu Dhabi, China, Seychelles and Nigeria.

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