K'pong to get Bengal's first girls' residential football academy

SNS, DARJEELING, 6 AUGUST 21 : Kalimpong district in the Hills will soon boast of a first-ever fully residential girls' football academy in West Bengal.

An initiative of the Kolkata based Debanjan Sen Foundation (DSF) and the Kalimpong-based Share Football Club (SFC), the academy has been christened "Debanjan Share Girls' Academy' (DSGA).

"This is the first residential football academy dedicated entirely to girls. We have started the process and initial trials will be conducted at different places to scout for talents, mainly in the rural areas. This will go on till 20 September, after which the Academy will finally begin operations. In the trials, we will shortlist 25 girls who will be provided training," said Norden Michael Lepcha, the Secretary of the SFC.

According to Mr Lepcha, girls had to earlier train either in academies which were for both boys and girls or non-residential ones.

The academy, which will be set up in Kalimpong town, will provide the girls everything for free, including accommodation, training and food. Apart from that, they will also be providing scholarship for deserving students.

"We have decided to start with only 25 girls of ages between 12 and 17 years from Kalimpong district and parts of Western Dooars. If we feel some girls in the batch are not performing well within a year, we will replace them with others," said Mr Lepcha, adding that they plan to increase the number of girls in the future, while also covering more areas in the Hills and the Dooars.

"We have already trained about 22 girls in football from rural areas since 2016 through various camps. There is a lot of potential and talent among the girls here, but full-fledged and professional training is needed for them to perform better," said Mr Lepcha.

The Club, which has started a football academy for boys in the year 2013, has already trained around 80 boys. A meeting was held yesterday among DSGA members in Kalimpong yesterday to discuss the nitty-gritty of the Academy, it is learnt.