I have joined Mohun Bagan to make my parents proud

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It’s a new year and a fresh start for me as well to take my career to the pinnacle of success. I am extremely happy to write my soul in this blog.

It is the first time that I’ve come across the PIO category of players. Being part of this category and being the only one in it is a great privilege. Many players of indian origin have played abroad for seasons or have been for short stints,  it is the knowledge that we’ve gathered from these experiences which will really separate us from the other players. Training methods are obviously advanced abroad and has helped me grow as a player. Being a PIO player I will use all of the experiences that I’ve got from playing in USA, Mexico, and UK. Playing in these countries have made me a versatile player and more importantly expanded my know how as a player.

There are many goals that I have for not only just this season but also in life. I continue to work on these goals everyday as it won’t be a short sprint to the finish but a long journey. One of the goals for this season is to provide my services to the team and contribute with everything I have when called upon. For me there is no ‘I’ in the team, so my goal is to help the team retain its crown again.

I’ve played abroad for 6 seasons which is 6 years. Prior to that I’ve been on a few training stints abroad which have basically kept me on the road for 6-7 years, away from home. One of the biggest reason to come back to India is for my parents. In my younger days my dad would come for all the games I had when I played in Mahindra United or the State team. In TFA they were able to visit games even fewer times. After I went to USA they weren’t able to see me play live even once and would try to watch my games online but the timings were very difficult to match. After 6 years they can now watch me play live. They have always supported me since I took up playing serious soccer at the age of 12, whether is was driving to practice sessions early in the morning or packing my post game meals just so that I was happy playing soccer for a couple of hours. I wish to give them joy and happiness when they see me play here in India.

Life abroad as an athlete is very different. Training styles are scientific, monitored and analysed to obtain the best results. At the collegiate athlete at the division 1 university of Fairleigh Dickinson (New Jersey) I learnt about what fitness was and what life as an athlete was. My degree in sports management facilitated my understanding about nutrition, injury, sports law which I was experiencing as an athlete and learning as a student. Training patterns were different in pre season and different in season. We had our schedule given to us at the very first day of pre season: when we would have 2 a day sessions, when we would have gym sessions, what our diet should be on gym days/pre-post practice and on game days, what our class schedules were, what GPA we needed to maintain throughout the semester to be eligible to play. This bought a lot of responsibility on each player to perform on the field and stay tuned in the classroom as well. Practice sessions were about 90 min. The focus was always to get many touches on the ball. We played a lot of small sides games, 1-2 touch, finishing and then finished with some fitness. In my 4 years here We finished as champions in 2012 which was the high point of my college career. Later on I moved to play with Houston Dynamo, and saw similar training patters here. The level of players were much better and the speed of the game was much faster. I played 2 seasons with dynamo and played against big teams and one of the high points there was playing against Julio Baptista.

The mentality and environment created, is a combination for success and that is why we see foreign clubs and teams doing so well and manufacturing top players, it’s because they have the right formula. There are little minute details that cannot be neglected and have to be enforced to be a successful team.

Thanks,
Kean Lewis

Written By: Kean Lewis