The Thaabit Ahmed Football Academy (TAFA) recently launched its 2019/ 20 season on September 16th 2019, for the eleventh consecutive year. The academy which supports over 200 students, from 30 nationalities, from the ages of 4 – 15 years old, began their new season.
TAFA was founded in 2009 by Thaabit Ahmed, to offer coaching for young athletes in a fun, safe and professional environment. Based in Colombo, Sri Lanka TAFA is a privately run football academy, which provides training in both Colombo and Galle.
Season 11 for TAFA began with a full registry of young athletes and a substantial waiting list.
Commenting on the commencement of the eleventh (11th) season, Founder, TAFA Coaching – Thaabit Ahmed noted “We believe in educating today’s youth on the importance of teamwork and leadership utilising fitness and football as a platform for this. What our young athletes learn on the pitch mirrors lessons they can apply to their day to day life.”
Speaking with the Operations Director – Fiona Molligoda Smyth who recently joined the team, concluded “TAFA represents a very forward thinking approach in the way it delivers it’s structured coaching sessions with a strong emphasis on fitness and health. The brand believes in equal opportunity and the role of strong female leaders. As such the TAFA team now has an equal ratio of male to female staff. It’s good to part of a team which is diverse and I get to work with both Sri Lankan and International Coaches.”
TAFA’s core values of ‘enjoyment’, ‘development’ and ‘respect’ are backed by its three [03] pillars of ‘coaching’, ‘exchange’ and ‘foundation’. Season 11 marks the launch of several subsidiary brands including Trooper Rugby and Trooper Elite which are headed by Bilal Hassan. The football academy has confirmed their foreign tour in March 2020 to the UAE for the Manchester City Abu Dhabi Cup for both the TAFA boys’ and girls’ football teams and their Premier League Experience UK tour in April 2020.