Yashvi Manihar (15) from Oman has developed such a passion for football that she travels up to four hours every weekend to take pa…

Yashvi Manihar (15) from Oman has developed such a passion for football that she travels up to four hours every weekend to take part in the ongoing Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS) programme in Abu Dhabi.

Yashvi and her father Mahendra Manihar leave their home in Buremi, Oman, south of Al Ain, every Saturday morning to cross the border control into the United Arab Emirates, so that she can hone her football skills alongside girls from around the world, in the current training module which is teaching the skills of Manchester United wingers Nani and Antonio Valencia, and midfielder Ryan Giggs.

“She simply lives for her weekly training sessions,” said her father, Mahendra. “We all pile into the car and head for the border so that she can get there as soon as possible – she doesn’t want to miss a minute.”

“When I read about the course in the newspaper I said to my dad, ‘I have to go to this!” said Yashvi. “If this is your passion, you have to go for it and you can’t let a road trip stop you.

I absolutely love football, I’m a big Manchester United fan and Wayne Rooney is my favourite player so it feels like the programme has been designed specifically for me. Football is a great sport. It helps you learn things like teamwork, which is great because that helps you get to know people better and helps you do things off the field as well as on it.

“The girls I play with are all really nice and the coach is great. It’s just so fun meeting new people and playing with them – it’s all part of the game.”

Such is her passion that Yashvi has already signed up for the next 10-week course, Learn to Attack with Flair the United way, which starts on 7 April 2012 and teaches the skills of Manchester United’s dynamic trio of strikers, like Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez.

The girls-only sessions conducted by female MUSS coach Stela Samuela, which take place inside the Dome@Rawdhat for added privacy, were introduced earlier this year, and have proven to be extremely popular, with courses being completely sold out.

The popularity of the MUSS programmes continues to grow since its launch in the UAE capital in 2010 in a partnership with Reem Investments, and the number of sign-ups increases with each new course.

And with dedication like that shown by Yashvi, the Manchester United Soccer Schools message is likely to be heard ever louder in UAE. 

http://www.manutdsoccerschools.ae

Youngster goes the extra mile for MU Soccer Schools

21ST MAY 2012

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