Kerala’s Santosh Trophy winning coach Bino George believes India don’t have enough quality coaches

Kerala head coach, Bino George believes that there is a paucity of Indian coaches present in the footballing system and that the country does not have proper infrastructure, which hinders the development of the sport in the country.

George who led Kerala to the 75th Santosh Trophy recently, is widely considered as one of the best Indian coaches in the country, with the 45-year-old keen for the state of Kerala to reclaim their former glories.

“I consider 11-12 years of age as the golden period to develop basic technique. If you don’t lay that foundation by then, it can get difficult. The basics of good passing, shooting, control, trapping and first touch should get formed at this stage. From age 13-15, coaching moves more into a tactical zone,” he said as quoted by Money Control.

“The fact is we don’t have enough quality coaches at the grassroot level. That’s why our kids don’t develop fast enough. When the (Zinedine) Zidane-(Marco) Materazzi incident happened at the World Cup 2006, the French football federation penalized Zidane by making him coach at the grassroot level. In India, coaches at the grassroot level are poorly paid. If I get paid a big enough salary, I’m prepared to help the kids at the grassroots,” George added.