While football matches are traditionally evaluated through the narrow lens of ninety minutes and final scorelines, certain initiatives create an enduring resonance far beyond the boundary lines. Across India, the evolving concept of a community coach is redefining how sports interact with society, placing youth empowerment, education, and inspiration at the very center of athletic training. The Premier League NEXTGEN Coach Programme embodies this philosophy by treating grassroots coaching not merely as an exercise in tactical drills, but as a dedicated pathway to elevate and strengthen the vulnerable communities these mentors serve.
Reframing Coaches into Holistic Youth Mentors
Rather than confining instructions to standard ball control or match tactics, this dedicated coaching curriculum focuses on shaping sports instructors into holistic mentors. The overarching objective is to equip them with the behavioral tools needed to nurture self-belief, mental fortitude, and progressive life values among young trainees alongside their physical skills. By learning to view each child as an evolving human being rather than simply a player on a pitch, grassroots coaches are positioned to address the broader social and emotional realities of their students, transforming routine training sessions into meaningful developmental experiences.
Two Decades of Grassroots Engagement Across the Country
The footprint of the Premier League in the Indian sports landscape spans nearly two decades, having commenced in 2007 with the launch of the Premier Skills initiative. Over the subsequent years, this sustained effort has touched traditional football hubs as well as expanding sporting regions, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Goa, along with southern and eastern hubs across Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu.
A notable milestone within this developmental journey occurred in Mumbai with the launch of a tailored football project designed explicitly for children with disabilities, reinforcing the commitment to inclusive play. Cumulatively, these initiatives have extended across 18 states, directly integrating more than 7,500 coaches, referees, and physical education teachers into structured development networks. Through their direct efforts, over 1.64 lakh young participants have engaged with structured sports and developmental programming.
Upcoming Mumbai Edition Builds on Foundations Laid in Goa
The next phase of the NEXTGEN itinerary is scheduled to unfold in Mumbai this October. Conducted in close partnership with the OSCAR Foundation, the programme builds directly upon the inaugural edition staged in Goa during May 2026. That introductory workshop brought together more than 30 local grassroots coaches, offering them intensive exposure to practical methodologies curated by international community coaches from the Premier League alongside respected Indian coach educators. The upcoming Mumbai edition aims to scale these foundational principles across a fresh cohort of local trainers.
Expert Educators Merging Sporting Excellence and Life Values
Driving the curriculum for this edition are coach educators Kirti Kashyap and Narinder Tokas, both of whom contribute deep domain expertise forged through distinct professional trajectories. Despite their varied backgrounds, both educators are anchored by the shared conviction that football serves as an exceptional instrument for driving widespread social transformation.
Holding an AFC 'B' coaching licence, Kirti Kashyap has assembled extensive experience spanning youth football administration, coach education, and sports-led learning methodologies. Her professional coaching record includes guiding the Delhi U17 girls squad as well as working within the youth setups of Indian Super League (ISL) clubs Delhi Dynamos FC and Odisha FC. Kashyap's own professional trajectory stands as clear evidence of how sports instruction can transcend conventional match training. Her coaching journey gained momentum after enrolling in the Premier Skills programme organized alongside the British Council and the Premier League, an initiative specifically conceived to equip local trainers and referees to run open, accessible community football projects.
For Narinder Tokas, coaching has similarly represented far more than the dissemination of athletic techniques. Backed by a career exceeding 18 years across physical education, athletic conditioning, and sports leadership, Tokas centers his professional philosophy on constructing environments where young learners feel fully secure, valued, and confident enough to express their individual potential. He maintains that every child deserves an inherently constructive and purposeful experience through sport.
To put this philosophy into daily practice, Tokas integrates the STEPS and SMILES frameworks acquired through the Premier League coach education syllabus. These pedagogical concepts prompt coaches to look past repetitive drills and deliberately plan session delivery so that every activity remains secure, inclusive, engaging, and focused on genuine learning outcomes. Tokas has systematically disseminated these practical teaching tools to fellow instructors across schools and community sports setups. For both Kashyap and Tokas, the NEXTGEN curriculum operates as far more than an ordinary seminar, serving instead as a dynamic forum to exchange strategic knowledge that can filter down into classrooms and marginalized neighborhoods.
The Critical Value of Direct Investment in Grassroots Mentors
The architectural premise of the Premier League NEXTGEN Coach Programme rests on the understanding that sustainable athletic growth begins from the bottom up. At the core of this initiative is the recognition that knowledge must never remain trapped with the individual attending the seminar. By elevating the pedagogical and leadership capacities of community coaches, the programme generates a multiplying effect across grassroots infrastructure.
Working shoulder to shoulder with the OSCAR Foundation, the initiative supplies instructors with tangible, field-tested toolkits that can be adapted to their specific local environments and shared with regional peers. NEXTGEN deliberately departs from conventional instruction by directing sustained focus toward clear communication, leadership presence, player welfare, and active community outreach. By building upon the lessons gathered from the 30 coaches who participated in the May 2026 Goa workshop under international and domestic experts, the initiative continues to demonstrate how strategic investment in mentors directly elevates the lived experiences of young participants nationwide.
