PUNE: Tendulkar Middlesex Global Academy (TMGA), a cricket academy by Sachin Tendulkar recently held a camp in the city, which garnered a huge response from the kids.
Although Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli had all the eyeballs, the academy is not just about the former India international duo. Teaming with Middlesex County Cricket Club, the legendary Indian has joined hands with an equally iconic name in cricket, bringing on board some of the best coaches.
After an exclusive chat with the maestro earlier, Sakal Times had another opportunity to talk exclusively to Josh Knappett, the Head Coach of TMGA and Sushant Karangutkar, Head Of Operations, TMGA on the sidelines of the recently concluded camp. The duo shared the vision of Tendulkar Middlesex Global Academy and how the primary goal is to not only provide the youngsters with world-class training but to help them become a better person.
“For us, it has been a magnificent friendship from the start. It’s a wonderful opportunity, that we are incredibly proud to have achieved,” said the 34-year-old Knappett.
“We have worked together for around a year so far and we have worked to build the programmes. Middlesex have got a rich history in developing young players that have gone on to be hugely successful” he elaborated about over a hundred year history of the English club.
Knappett, UKCC ECB Level IV elite coach, is a highly regarded coach around the world. He shed more light on the vision of the TMGA, as it will be the crucial part in the working model of the academy.
“We both (Club and Sachin) are really passionate about developing cricketers that are good for not just their skills, but tactically, mentally and socially as part of developing the person as a human being,” he added.
“The things that we pride on are a development of a person as well as a development of a performer based around their love of cricket,” he further added.
“The main vision of Sachin is apart from cricket, a person should be a good citizen of the country first. If he is a good cricketer and a bad person, it’s not going to make any sense for the society,” Karangutkar, Head of
Operations at the academy elaborated further.
As both the men behind the scene further elaborated about the academy, one thing that stood out was how high the standards have been set. The clear vision they had about what they wanted to offer kids by bringing in former national and international players from India and UK, teach them young, but above all, to love the game of cricket, just like Sachin did.
