Late Nanda Kishore Patnaik
Former Chief Coach and Trustee,
Founder of Nita Football Academy
‘Mother gives birth to her child with a dream to see him/her succeed in life, but a teacher only fulfills that dream’. This quote has become true when we come across a person like Late Nanda Kishore Patnaik, a.k.a. Tutu Sir, the former Chief Coach and Founder of Nita Football Academy.
He had managed to inspire students of the Academy who are mostly from poor family background and helped them become self-reliant. For his efforts, he was felicitated by various famous personalities like Shri. Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha, Mrs. Nita Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Foundation, Mr. Anil Kumble, Ex-Cricketer, Shri. Prasanna Patasani, M.P. etc.
Over the years, the Academy has grown to its full stature due to the tireless efforts and guidance of Late Patnaik. The Academy has a full-fledged residential hostel at Bhubaneswar that provides for accommodation, studies as well as football coaching to thirtyfive (35) girls who were guided by late Patnaik and his student cum senior coach of the Academy Ms. Shradhanjali Samantray, former captain and legend of Indian Women’s football. Among his students, eight (8) have represented the Indian Womens’ National team and many have participated in the Nationals. Other than that, fourteen (14) have also managed to get government jobs.
Er. Subrat Das
Chairman and Trustee,
Nita Football Academy
Er. Subrat Das, a sports lover, embarked upon the journey to promote football in Odisha in the year 2015 by establishing the Nita Football Academy under Nita Football Trust with an embodying philosophy of social responsibility and providing one-stop coaching cum support environment for the backward and underprivileged.
The aim of establishing the Academy was to enhance personal development, rehabilitation and fitness as well as to develop the students both physically and psychologically via competitive lessons to prepare them for the challenges they will face both on field and off the field. The Academy’s endeavour was to inculcate leadership in environmental, social and economic sustainability, delivering life and career-enhancing opportunities for the students.
The Academy has won many laurels across number of tournaments throughout Odisha and outer states for which Er. Das is very proud of its players, coaches and support staff. The Academy is providing year round training to improve the skills and competitiveness of the players by taking multiple measures including virtual classes, in order to enable them to compete at state and national level. The Academy is also providing free food and education to the underprivileged players of the society that are training under it.
Er. Subrat Das hopes, the endeavour of the Academy will definitely help the state of Odisha produce many good athletes/footballers and will also create the avenue for their employability across state and national government job sectors. On this regard, the Academy is dedicated to promote the world’s most loved game of football in the state of Odisha
