Joshuah Vaz–A winner from within….

Value for hard work, perseverance, and being a team player are some of the most basic and fundamental values of sports. For Johsuah Vaz,  there was always a simple formula: be focused on the game of football and the rest of the things will happen. Football is in the foreground, the rest is in the background. Joshuah has dedicated his life to a sport he ispassionate about. For him, hard work and persistence is key. “Don’t quit what you start.  If you aren’t as good as you thought you would be, you have time. Keep putting the work into the craft of football. Keep learning.  Don’t quit during a training session.  Don’t quit while competing and please don’t quit trying to be the best version of yourself as a player.  Sometimes the gains you want to see are just around the corner,” says Joshuah Vaz.

“Don’t quit” is the story of Joshuah’s life at all timescales. “Every new beginning is hard and so is coming back from injury, give yourself time and take it one step at a time and you will get to a fitness level that you enjoy. From then on you will love playing and you will never want to give it up. You will look forward to your goals. But first of all you must be persistent and not give up. Just stick with it and never give up! When you’re on a tough run, it’s amazing how your mind will try to convince you that you are really tired, and that you should probably stop, that you can’t keep going. Put those thoughts away because you’re not that tired, you shouldn’t stop and you can keep going. I always visualize myself succeeding against all odds, I visualize how I will be smiling, will have my arms in the air and visualize my family and friends waiting on me – and that just keeps me going.

Tell us about your life……

My life overall has been a roller coaster, but I must say that I don’t regret any part of it from my childhood to my adulthood every encounter I have had whether positive or negative has taught me a meaningful lesson. My professional life has had a lot of twists and turns on its way to finally reaching where I am today. As everyone knows I love to play football and have been playing football from the age of 4. My dream was always to play at the highest level in the country but unfortunately my life took a different turn. I was a professional footballer first for Dempo Sports Club for three seasons 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10. It started off very well scoring a goal on my debut, and continued pretty well also in all three season playing an important role in Dempo’s Goa Professional League squad. But the dream was to play in the I League. Sadly though I had the talent but was too young (aged 18) at the time to play in the big league. Anyway in the final season when I finally thought my chance had come an untimely injury cost me a place in the I league squad and that’s when I decided to move to a smaller club in a lower league to get some playing time. I moved to Salcete  SC in the 1st Division League later that season and had a pretty fruitful campaign in front of goal. The following season (2010-2011) I moved to Churchill Brothers again in the hope to play in the I league but I must say it was a very frustrating season as in spite of playing well in practice matches I was not even considered for the I League squad and ended up playing only a few minutes in the Goa Pro League. I decided to move to a smaller club so as to get in some good playing time the following year. Goa Velha SC was my next professional club for two seasons 2011-12 & 2012-13. I really enjoyed my time here as I got to play a lot of minutes and in both seasons developed my game better. And was rewarded with call ups to the Santosh Trophy Camp (Goa Senior State team). Unfortunately in goan football you need a Godfather to reach great heights and I wasn’t selected in the first year and in the second year I had a serious knee injury that needed and operation in June 2013.

The coming season I played for Panjim Footballers in the 2nd Division just to get my fitness back after the surgery. The season of 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 I would say are the best of my life. It was the three years I enjoyed the most playing football in my professional football career life. Santa Cruz Club of Cavellosim was the reason for that. I had two amazing seasons at the club scoring and assisting goals at will in the Goa Professional league. Now the dream was to play in the ISL and I kept working hard and playing hard. The legendary Zico once inquired about my talents but again to reach up there what I realized is you need a Godfather. Anyway my 3 good seasons earned me a call to Churchill Brothers SC once again. This time I was registered for the I league for the 2016-17 season but did not make a single appearance. That same season in the Goa 7’s tournament playing for Churchill Brothers I impressed allot of people as we ended up in the runners up position. The boss himself was so impressed that the following season 2017-18 one of my dreams were realized as I made my debut in the I league. In total I made 5 appearances that year but as the season wore on there was a lot of friction inside the camp and I am really sad to say that the Coach at the time was a big reason why I gave up playing at that level. The following year just for leisure I decided to play in the 1st Division once again for Santa Cruz Club of Cavellosim  in the 2018-19 season under my favorite Coach in my professional career. I captained the squad and we ended up in the runners position and I was glad to be back to loving the game again. I was supposed to represent them again this season but I haven’t recovered completely from my ACL surgery in August to play this season.

While I did pursue my football career on the other side along with my brother Charlton and my father Socorro we started a  Futsal Academy in February 2012 named Youth Futsal Academy. Our Academy is producing some of the best talents in Goa in the grassroots (U-6, U-8, U-10, U-12 and U-14) and thats a testimony to the quality of coaching we are delivering. We are not only producing Players but Coaches also. In the Little Gaurs league organised by Forca Goa Foundation in 2018 we were Champions in the U-8 category and 3rd Place in the U-10. The following year 2019 YFA gave an opportunity to 70 boys and girls to play in the same tournament fielding three teams in U-6,U-8 and U-10 categories. In the U-6 category two of our teams made it to the podium. FC YFA winning the title and Orange Squadron YFA with a third place finish, The same result ensured in the U-8 as we defended our crown from the previous year and Orange Squadron won the Third Place. In the U-10 after a close battle we ended up in the third position behind by just 2 points. We took away 5 Individual Awards also Best Players in the U-6 and U-8, Most promising players in the U-6 and U-10 and Highest scorer in the U-8. Over the years we have also produced excellent talents whether boys or girls. Our players have represented India in the age category, Salgaocar SC, Dempo SC, Fc Goa etc. This year in March 2020 in our biggest achievement, Fc Goa U-14 selected 9 of our boys to represent them in the coming season.

All the below Tournaments have been organised and executed by YFA

Youth Futsal Academy also started its own club named Futebol Club YFA in June 2019 to officially participate in age group tournaments in Goa. Youth Futsal Academy is the first organisation to organize and U-10 Inter School Futsal League in the country in the year 2017 and it has become an annual event.

Youth Futsal Academy is the first organisation to organize an International level Futsal Coaching course in Goa. We organized the AFC Level 1 Futsal course in November 2018 and again in June 2019.Youth Futsal academy is well known for its tournament organizing skills as they have been organizing inter-state tournaments as well.

 

I also am a professional Futsal Player since 2011. We started our own team in 2011 called The A Team and later it was rechristened to what it is called now La Masia. This team of ours has participated in the All Goa Futsal League at Chowgule College (The only Futsal Surface in India) since its inception in 2011. We won the Title in 2011, 2015, 2016 & 2017 Runners Up in 2013, 2014 & 2019. I was awarded Best player 4 times and Highest scorer 3 times.

My Coaching Career and to my current new post.

I started coaching very young at the age of 18 thanks to my dad Mr. Socorro Vaz who is one of the best grassroots coaches in Goa with a coaching experience of over 25 years. In 2013 I got my AFC C certificate football coaching license. I was recommended by the Instructor to do my AFC B certificate right away but because I was still interested in playing I pushed that further. In November 2018 I completed my AFC Level 1 Futsal Coaching under an AFC Futsal Elite Instructor from Iran. He was very impressed with me and directly recommended me for the Level 2 (Which otherwise has a waiting period). I had a new dream now and that was to one day be like him. In May 2018 I got a message from the same Instructor that he has recommended my name to be an assistant instructor in the next course in Goa. I was very excited. It was a great experience being an assistant instructor to another AFC Elite Instructor from Malaysia this time. After the course he advised me to come assist him in Malaysia and also to do my AFC Level 2 there. This was a great opportunity and I grabbed it with both hands. After assisting him successfully and completing my Level 2 license I returned to Goa. He was happy with my progress and told me he would recommend me to be India’s 1st AFC Level 1 Instructor. The ACL Miracle (Do read this article I have written for an inside story).

In February this year I got appointed as a AFC Futsal Level 1 Instructor for India. I will be conducting my first course in the Indian subcontinent very soon and I dream to make India a powerhouse in the sport of Futsal soon. I have already started producing better footballers through futsal. ( All the great players like Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi Iniesta statred off with Futsal that is why the have such a great first touch and our so good at getting out of tight spaces, Pep Guardiola’s teams use futsal formations inside their footballing tactics, some of the best goalkeepers of today use Futsal Goalkeeping techniques in the game of football). My Aim is to improve Indian Football through Futsal.

What is Futsal ? (for your understanding)

Futsal (also known as fútsal or footsal) is a variant of  football played on a hard court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors.

Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper. Unlimited substitutions are permitted. Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the game is played on a hard court surface delimited by lines; walls or boards are not used. Futsal is also played with a smaller, harder, low-bounce ball. The surface, ball and rules together favour ball control and passing in small spaces.The game’s “emphasis is on improvisation, creativity and technique”.

My Parents Socorro Vaz and Debbie Vaz, My brother Charlton Vaz have played a very important role in supporting me in my professional career, in the times when it was hard to get back from injuries and selection heartbreaks to celebrating mu successes they have always been there. My dad has been my personal coach, my mother has been my backbone and my brother my training partner alwasy. My wife Roselle has also been instrumental in supporting me in my transition of roles and dreams. She has supported me emotionally when I have been down and out when things went bad and she has pushed me hard and always allowed me time to get where I am today.

What is the secret of your success?

The secret of my success is my attention to detail trying to be almost perfect at everything I put my hand to. And of course personal touch, as I like to get things done myself as much as possible (P.S. My Mom, Dad, brother and Wife sometimes get annoyed with me because of this).To be honest for me success means to see happiness on our students faces after a training session or game, to see them wanting to come back to train with us cause they enjoy our coaching so much. To see the Parents so happy to see their children improving over the years. To be successful it takes time and training. I tell all parents that if they want to see improvement in their child they should be regular at training. It takes 10,000 hours of training to master a skill.

For me though Success means to be better than what I can see in the mirror everyday. I always say this that When I die I want to be remembered for being a good Human being not just a good Instructor, Coach or Player. And this is one of the things we teach at YFA to be Good Human Beings before being good players. I do not measure Success by the money I earn, I measure it by the number of lives I touch, make better or Inspire with my Coaching and Playing.

When for reasons I cannot say I for some time started to hate playing football and going for practice for my club and decided to leave playing football professionally and instead directed all my focus and attention to coaching is one of the important impacts in driving me towards the new heights I am reaching in my life today. (P.S I love playing again).

I am a person of my word. From the time I was younger, I always wanted to perfect what I got my hands into and that still continues today. Some may say it’s an obsession, but I feel being perfect is like just another skill and quality that can make a difference. This perfection has helped me in my professional life as well. I like finding solutions to problems, whatever they maybe. My mind doesn’t get rest till I try my 100% to figure it out and get to the end of it. I enjoy being with my family,  being together and sharing life, and having a fun time together excites me and keeps my mind relived from all the stresses otherwise. I feel God is a major part of everything I am and everything I have today. He has always given me whatever I need in the time he thinks best. I am grateful to him for all that I am today. God is above all.

What are the challenges you face?

The biggest challenge I face right now is educating the country on the importance of the game of futsal and how it can help make better football players. Another challenge is awareness of what is FUTSAL. All over India we have mini artificial grass pitches here in Goa too and the people who have built it call it futsal but in reality this is indoor football reason being is that the difference of the playing surface. On a Flat Hard Surface (wood/PU material) which is used for futsal the ball moves faster and thus the use of the sole to control the ball is more apparent, the type of shoes also used our flat sole shoes no studs. On an artificial pitch we use normal football studs and  the artificial grass makes the movement of the ball slower thus using the inside of the foot to control more often. These are just the basics differences that people need to be educated about.

How do you strike a balance between work and family?

Balancing work and family is not too difficult for now. Now that I am married I stay with my wife and we are managing well so far. On the weekends I am usually off and that when we go to visit our families and sit and have a meal with them.

 

What are your future plans?

My future plans are to build our academy further and possibly open another center. Also I want to conduct as many courses as possible to educate coaches in Futsal. I want to also push for AIFF to organise a Nation wide league from where we can select a team to participate in AFC qualifying. My my dream goal is to work hard and sincerely to become an AFC Elite instructor in the near future.

I think my USP is my passion and determination to achieve perfection. I always try my level best to deliver the correct coaching and the right information. I always want to be the best in the right way and through the right channels never using a corrupt or illegal method.