Panasonic Dream Camp - Day One

Yesterday marked the first of the two-day Panasonic Dream Camp in Shillong. After the initial introductions, the first day primarily focused on a couple of training sessions on the FIFA Artificial Turf, one each in the morning and evening along with a classroom session at the hotel.

First training session - Passing
The morning session began at 8am with some light rain around, with the boys making full use of their rain-proof track-suit. The session mainly focused on 'Passing'. After going through some dynamic stretching initially, the boys participated in some passive training that included free movement and more touches on the ball. Later, the training became more active to encourage decision making with opponents and involving various match related scenarios and focussing on receiving the ball. The 90 minute training session ended with a fifteen minute 11 a-side match and cooling down exercises.

Classroom session
Between the two on-field training sessions there was a classroom session conducted for the participants to discuss various nuances of the game of football by showing them videos from the recently held EURO2012. The boys enjoyed some of the best goals of the tournament and learnt about the high standard of international football. The classroom session also included videos on best training practices involving some special drills used by coaches for youngsters around the world.

2nd training session - Dribbling
The evening session focused on 'Dribbling' and involved pretty much the same passive and active training drills, but with a new theme. More drills were 1 vs 1 oriented to place emphasis on dribbling. The session ended with a 3-team league where 9 a-side matches were conducted.

After-dinner entertainment
After dinner at 9pm, the boys were shown the football game from a Hollywood movie, 'Escape to Victory'. It was a perfect way to relax for them after a long hard day of training by entertaining themselves by watching some of their favourite actors and players in a football movie. Lights were off at 10pm ahead of second day of action.