A day before the Indian Women’s team kick-off their COTIF Tournament campaign against Fundacion Albacete in Spain, coach Maymol Rocky stressed on the ‘learning experience’ more than ‘results’ while speaking to www.the-aiff.com.
“The girls are thrilled and they’re looking ahead to make the most of this opportunity. As I have said earlier, it’s more about learning newer things than getting results from such exposure trip. We have the Four Nation Tournament, South Asian Games lined up in future so the experience gained from Spain will help us enormously going forward,” Maymol said after her team registered a sublime 3-1 victory over Spanish club Alzira on July 30, 2018.
It’s the first instance when the Indian Women’s Team has travelled to Europe to rub their shoulders with European clubs and other National Team.
“It’s not only the girls but also the support staff who have so many things to learn from this exposure trip. Along with the clubs, we’ll play against Morocco who are going to give us a tough time on the pitch. It’ll be a perfect platform for us to judge ourselves against some European opponents at their home condition.”
She thanked All India Football Federation (AIFF) as well as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for providing the girls with this sort of opportunity.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank AIFF and SAI for giving us the opportunity to test ourselves against some teams who know real business. These experiences always count and what we can assure that our girls won’t leave the ground without giving their 100%”, Rocky stated firmly.
Before heading to Spain to participate in the tournament, the girls had a month-long training camp in two phases. Eventually, 20 girls have been shortlisted who have flown to the European nation.
“We started the camp in Bangalore and moved to Gwalior with 25 girls later. Finally, 20 best girls were selected and I strongly believe in their abilities. We have put a stress on youngsters as they are keen to learn newer things. I have always liked working with the youngsters and right now everyone is dying to see the tournament kicking off,” she added.