Coach Speak – Pranav
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 Pranav Varanasi who has worked with Great Goals since Jan 2021. He has volunteered with us through his school and college days and has been a coordinator of the Annual Great Goals Tournament. Pranav has a triple major from Christ University, Bengaluru and is an aspiring sports psychologist. He loves football, has played it his whole life and wants to contribute to the game in any way he can. Pranav is part of the first Great Goals Internship cohort.
| You chose to be a football coach because….? |
| Since football is something I am very passionate about, and I am just starting out my career in football apart from playing, coaching was something I definitely wanted to try because I knew somewhere that maybe if I had the right guide and the right coaches to help me along maybe my playing would have turned out different and the thought of providing these opportunities for children is the reason I decided to become a coach. |
| Which is your favourite drill and why? |
| Rondo is my favourite drill because it teaches players on how to work in tight spaces, improves their touch and their passing a lot. It helps players improve their creativity and decision making and it is also a very good team building exercise. |
| What is your favourite moment coaching a class? |
| It is hard for me to pick one aspect of a class but if I had to pick one moment, it would usually be when a player after trying something for a long time and repeatedly failing is able to succeed, the sheer joy and energy that gives them really pushes me to learn better and find ways to get better at my job. |
| What is your philosophy as a coach? |
| Express individuality, help them learn their way and cater to what they want and not what I want. |
| What is your favourite thing about Great Goals? |
| The child is first and the effort that goes into every child. |
| What gives you joy? |
| Playing football and having a good laugh with all my players gives me joy. |
| What’s your favourite tool to motivate a player? |
| Responsibility is a very important tool I believe in motivating a player. Responsibility to their teammates and to themselves. |
| Great Goals is…. |
| …a place where children get to learn great values and is an academy that caters to the needs of every single student and realises that each child needs to be dealt with differently and taught differently and Great Goals for me works really hard in achieving this. |
Meet the coaches featured previously here: