Pune FC have shortlisted a total of 26 youngsters for their Under-15 team for the upcoming 2014-15 season after conducting Open Trials during the past weekend.
The Trials conducted specifically for local talent attracted over 170 aspirants who braved intermittent rains over two days at the Club’s Training Pitches in Mamurdi.
A total of over 120 kids were present on Saturday out of which 40 youngsters made it to the second round. On Sunday, these 40 selected kids joined 30 kids from Pune FC Soccer School and 20 more kids in the final round of selections.
Pune FC Under-15 Coach Mohan Dass said, “We looked for basic technical abilities in the players along with observing their personality and intelligence while on the pitch.”
“We have also kept a few talented players in the team who are around 11-12 years old and can develop faster,” added Coach Mohan.
Pune FC Under-13 Coach Rakesh Walhekar who assisted in proceedings on both the days said, “Each kid was given about 50-60 minutes to showcase their talent on the pitch. Everyone played almost three short matches each, allowing us to make a better judgement.”
Six cadets, Chaitanya Advani, Abheer Potadar, Abhishek Bhosale, Siddharth Hampiholi, Kaustubh Suryawanshi and Bhavya Shah, who honed their skill at the Pune FC Soccer Schools for the past one year also made the cut into the final selections.
Joining them in the shortlist were five youngsters, Shreepad Dorge, Shreyas Jadhav, Aryan Thite, Abhay Salvi and Nikhil Durga, from the Bajaj Allianz Junior Football Camp held in association with Pune FC.
Pune FC Under-19 Coach Naushad Moosa who was present on the final day and gave a pep talk to all the finalists who didn’t make through. Coach Moosa explained to the kids and parents gathered that they shouldn’t look at the situation as a failure, but should keep on working hard and try to improve.
The shortlisted youngsters will be training at Mamurdi on weekends beginning August 9th.
THE TEAM
Goalkeepers: Bhavya Shah, Shubankar Dhage, Niom Samson, Nikhil Durga
Defenders: Abhishek Bhosale, Abhay Salvi, Dhrut Bagade, Samihan Dalaya, Aniket Made, Shubham Chavan, Himanshu N, Siddharth Hampiholi
Midfielders: Aryan Irani, Din Din, Yunus Shaikh, Chaitanya Advani, Abheer Potadar, Shreyas Jadhav, Aryan Thite, Shreepad Dorge
Strikers: Siddh Shirole, Kaustubh Suryawanshi, Amey Talegaonkar, Ved Pillai, Virendra Pardeshi, Piyush Manjrekar
