Players may win matches and score memorable goals, but behind every confident footballer is a coach quietly guiding, encouraging and shaping their journey long before the spotlight arrives. This philosophy was at the centre of the recently conducted Premier League’s Next Gen Coach Programme in Goa, where coaches gathered to explore how football can become more inclusive, engaging and meaningful for young people. Held from May 10 to 13, the four-day programme brought together 30 coaches from the OSCAR Foundation for a mix of classroom and on-pitch sessions led by Premier League coaches and Indian alumni coaches. The focus was not just on improving football drills, but on helping coaches create safe, positive spaces where children can learn, grow and enjoy the game.
Duler, May 2026 – Navelim’s Nathaniel Da Costa has worn many hats in Indian football over the years. His journey began in 2008 in sports journalism before he moved to Churchill Brothers as a reporter and content editor. A later stint with FC Goa as media manager brought him closer to the professional side of the game, but it was his work with the Forca Goa Foundation that deepened his engagement with grassroots football.
Working alongside community initiatives and young players gradually reshaped his path. By 2016, Da Costa had joined the Premier League’s coaching development programme, going on to earn his coaching licences before qualifying as a coach educator in 2019. Since then, he has been applying those learnings to strengthen grassroots football training sessions across Goa. For Nathaniel, the real value of the Next Gen Coach Programme, which was held earlier in May, lies in the environment it creates to learn and grow.
“The sessions are a lot of fun. They focus on participation and making sure everyone feels included regardless of ability or gender,” he said.
Nathaniel believes programmes like these can have a lasting impact if they continue reaching coaches across India, especially at the grassroots level, where young players first fall in love with the game.
Aldona’s Shekhar Kerkar believes coaching is about giving children the freedom to express themselves without the fear of failure. Through years of working in community football, he has seen how young players thrive when training sessions are designed to be enjoyable, supportive and centred around the needs of the player.
“These sessions give young boys and girls the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. The approach is more player-centric, where every child gets an opportunity to improve,” Shekhar said.
Shekhar’s association with the Premier League began in 2014 through the Premier Skills project, an experience he says completely transformed the way he coached.
“It gave me more vision and more tools to make my sessions more effective,” he explained.
Over the years, Shekhar progressed from community coach to coach educator and later became part of the Premier League Primary Stars project in 2020. Through the initiative, he worked with coaches, PE teachers and educators from across India.
Shekhar believes programmes like these are valuable because they help coaches improve themselves while also creating better learning environments for children.
Premier League Community Coach Carl Plunkett, who was in Goa as part of the group of visiting coaches under the Next Gen Coach Programme, believes the initiative is less about perfect drills and more about helping coaches build confidence and stronger connections with young players.
“The goal of this programme is to reach community coaches and give them confidence,” Carl said.
Having worked with academies such as Chelsea FC, Fulham FC, Reading FC. and Crystal Palace FC, Carl has experienced different football cultures around the world. During his time in Goa, however, he found grassroots coaches in India shared the same passion and understanding of the game as coaches back home, in England.
According to him, the biggest challenge was confidence and the willingness to openly share ideas. That gradually changed as the sessions became more interactive.
“At first there was a little nervousness,” he admitted. “But once they started interacting, we could really help push them further.”
Carl says improving coaches at the grassroots level ultimately helps improve the experience for every child stepping onto the field.
According to Dr Shilpi Sharma, COO of the OSCAR Foundation, a community based sports for development (S4D) organisation in Maharashtra, football is a powerful tool to help children grow both on and off the field. Through the foundation, sport is used to teach confidence, teamwork and life skills to children from underserved communities.
“Today, OSCAR is reaching out to 20,000 children,” she said. “When these young coaches get trained, they go back and impact hundreds and thousands of more children.”
For Dr Shilpi, programmes like the Next Gen Coach Programme are important because they create better coaches, who in turn create safer and more positive spaces for children through football.