Coach Speak – Shaik Moulali
Coaches are the nerve centre of Great Goals operations. In our grassroots environment, they need to be able to coach football – what that means knowing to communicate effectively to a 3 year old as well as a 15 year old, planning sessions, executing their session plans, reviewing their sessions, writing progress reports for every child, class management, reinforce life skills, teach them problem solving, sportsmanship and build a healthy sporting culture – all this while our players get better at football. They also need to continuously learn and upgrade their own skills. A tall order….
Every week you will meet one Great Goals Coach and get an insight into their choices. This week, meet Shaik Moulali who has been with Great Goals since September 2021. Shaik has played football at the district, regional and state levels including playing in the Santosh Trophy. Shaik was educated as an engineer, but chose his passion. He holds an AFC C license.
| You chose to be a football coach because….? |
| I am very passionate about the game and even when I studied engineering, I always wanted to stay in this field. When I graduated from the Anantapur Sports Academy, my technical director didn’t want me to leave and he introduced me to coaching, and that’s when I started to coach the kids. I enjoyed myself while coaching and wanted to build my career, I felt this is the place where I belong. |
| Which is your favourite drill and why? |
| My favourite drill is a passing and support play. I always want my players to be comfortable with the ball to find the solutions in tough situations. |
| What is your favourite moment coaching a class? |
| The skill part, where all the technical things players know, are all tried at this time. This is my favourite part of the coaching class. |
| Who is your coaching idol and why? |
| Pep Guardiola I like the way his team plays and he revolutionized football with his ideas where it has led him to greater victories. |
| What is your philosophy as a coach? |
| To develop technically good and thinking players |
| What is your favourite thing about Great Goals? |
| Great Goals are very organized, and they always strive to be a good Grassroots club in Chennai. These are things I like, and it motivates me. |
| What gives you joy? |
| Interacting with the younger kids. Whenever I am taking the session, when the players understand and learn some skill or technique which he/she executes in the match situation, my heart fills with joy and makes me feel like I have achieved something. |
| What’s your favourite tool to motivate a player? |
| My speech, and I am good at it. I always used to pump up my player’s energy with motivational talks whenever they were feeling low, or during pre-match discussions and any post-match discussions. |
| Great Goals is…. |
| …an organization which not only gives an opportunity to play, they create an environment where players will have a lot of learning and fun as well focusing on all the attributes not only to become a good player but also to become a good person in the society. |
Meet the coaches featured previously here: