Dehra Dun Soccer Academy (DDSA) : Taking football to the Doon

DDSA is a youth football academy based in Dehradun / Uttarakhand It is aimed at providing superior and competitive football training, DDSA promises a truly International coaching experience with exposure to state-of-the-art training methodologies under the guidance of senior coaches from Spain.DDSA currently caters to children in the age group of 5 to 16 years, the formative period for any good footballer.
Opened in March 2012, the academy provides progressive courses, each building on the skills learned in the last course, thus enabling the children to develop confidence on the pitch whilst having fun through play. Competitive matches are regularly held against opposing teams to expose the students to different styles of football. In addition, development squads are selected to help to raise the standard of play, especially among the more gifted players. The academy ‘s Head Coach is Ex-Uttarakhand Sr. Player Kulbhushan Dwivedi. He is also the State Coordinator appointed by AIFF for MXIM Program for grassroots football development in India.
Gajendra Rawat is the founder/secretary of the Academy, an Ex Football Player, who has played in Dehradun for City Young FC. He was the first to organize a 7 a-side football Tournament in his school days (1989-1992) in Clement Town, Dehradun. Gajendra Rawat is Ex Banker who has worked with ABN AMRO Bank, Barclays Bank, and Rakbank.
"I always had a dream to be a footballer but could not reach the top level so I started doing the second best thing to playing which is being close to the game. Doon has a reach football history but in the last few decades it has gone down a bit so my aim in opening this academy was also to revive the past glory of football in our town and the state as a whole." said Gajendra.
He now runs his own consultancy company in UAE. He brings over 25 years of experience in Retailing, Investment, and Retail Banking, and Property Investment background with International exposure to many countries globally. He is the man behind DDSA marketing, branding, and business strategy. He already has roped in RD Global Sports from Spain as ChanelPartner for Training, Exposure Trips, and Talent Hunt for DDSA Future Stars. RD Global Sports is a well-established company, owned by Mr. RaviDaswani who is a well-known agent in Spain. He is also the Agent of Dipender Negi from Dehradun (India Under 14 and 16 Ex-Captain ). RD has a strong desire to promote Indian Football players globally and provide assistance wherever possible to DDSA.
The future plan of DDSA includes spreading its wings all across the state of Uttarakhand and also towards the North East especially in Sikkim and the untapped region of Darjeeling hills. They are fully aware that there is an abundance of talent in this region and if things go as planned we might soon see a branch of DDSA in Siliguri, Darjeeling, or Gangtok.


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