‘Stepping-Out’ with the technology for an amazing future of football; Jaap Stam joins the team!
It is a portal, named ‘StepOut’. What does the app do? How has ‘StepOut’ stepped out in the world of football with an ultimate innovation that has already brought a revolutionary change in the coaching system across the world? The portal helps the coaches to enhance their coaching system. Any match or training session must be uploaded to the portal, and respective coaches will receive detailed AI-generated data on each footballer participating in the match or training session. The respective coaches in the football schools and the academies across the world, even at the iconic institutions like La Masia, AFC Ajax, prepare the progress reports manually and as the task is not easy, the coaches can take days to complete preparing progressive reports of their trainees’ basic abilities. But now, with the help of ‘Step-Out’ these coaches are being able to prepare the progress reports of potential kids at their respective football schools faster. It is helping them to make the assessment whether a particular boy, even if has good basic skill, can be developed into a star of future. Step-Out was founded officially in 2023, but, Jeet Karmakar and Sayak Ghosh, the founders who are also B-Tech from NIT Durgapur, started applying their vision in 2020-21. Mohammedan Sporting was the first club. The Black-and-White brigade earned qualification for the elite I-League from second division. Yan Law was the team’s coach. Step-Out had silent, but a major contribution in helping the coach to bring best of his footballers on the pitch and qualify for the elite I-League. While speaking to Parallel Sports, Jeet said, “Our vision is to transform today’s prodigies into tomorrow’s icons. After thorough research, we have observed the football clubs across the world, even the top clubs are not habituated to using the technology in their youth development program. That is why we have chosen the youth level. Our portal has not only reduced the coaches’ manual labor, but also helping them in talent identification program. If an experienced coach gets exact data on a young footballer’s basic skill, then it must help him to design the talent identification, nurturing process.” Step-Out has already worked the clubs and academies in 19 countries across the world. In Indian football, the company has been working Bengaluru FC last one-and-half years. The company, expanding their activities out of the country, is presently associated with legendary Dutch club AFC Ajax for last three years and La Liga’s premier club Rayo Vallecano for last two years. Interestingly, Chelsea has shown interest on associating with Step-Out in its youth development program in the future. Jeet thanked Nithin Kamath adding, “We are thankful to Kamath for leading our Seed and now our Pre-Series A investment round. He came forward with financial assistance. We are also obliged to Koushik Roy and Amit Singh for their support. I can say they are the examples. If football can be commercialized properly, then you can get financial support.” But Step-Out had the most significant and memorable moment when Dutch World Cupper and legendary defender of Manchester United Jaap Stam was highly impressed by the functioning of Step-Out and started using it on his academy kids. “Stam has an organization and after being highly satisfied with our technology, he has joined us as a business partner. We feel it is a great achievement for us. Former Portuguese World Cupper Paolo Futre is also working with us as a business partner. We also have former vice-president of Major League Soccer as an advisor.” Step-Out has earned another laurel. The company has been selected in a forthcoming international competition with the star-ups across the world. The event, organised by KPMG is named Global Tech Innovation Challenge which will be held in Web Summit, Lisbon next month.
Srikkanth’s explosion on ODI selection: ‘Best is to be like Harshit Rana and be a constant yes-man to Gambhir to be selected!’
Former India chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth lambasted the team management for the inclusion of Harshit Rana in the ODI squad for the Australia tour on Saturday. Srikkanth sharply questioned the selectors for repeatedly changing the ODI squad, particularly pointing out the omission of Sanju Samson as back-up wicket-keeper, while including Harshit Rana, who debuted across formats in just four months since November 2024. Srikkanth argued that such changes create confusion and insecurity among players, highlighting Rana’s rapid rise as emblematic of inconsistent selection policies. “Constant, unpredictable selections are confusing the players and even the public. One day, Yashasvi Jaiswal is in, the next, he’s out. The only fixture seems to be Harshit Rana, whose continuous selection is unexplained. This inconsistency undermines player confidence,” Srikkanth stated. “You don’t pick some players even if they do well and take others even if they don’t. Best is to be like Harshit Rana and be a constant yes-man to Gambhir to be selected. You should start building towards the 2027 World Cup. But I feel they have not. If you pick Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy among the probabilities, then you can wave goodbye to the trophy,” an unfiltered Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel. “Some players are overlooked despite strong performances, while others like Harshit Rana remain favored regardless of form. It seems following Gambhir is the only path to selection now. India should be building for the 2027 World Cup, but current choices—like picking Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy—signal we’re far from winning,” Srikkanth told his YouTube audience. Rana made his Test debut during India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour to Australia last year, picking up four wickets in two matches. He later made his ODI debut against England before featuring in the ODI Champions Trophy squad in the United Arab Emirates. Rana had a forgettable Asia Cup, conceding 79 runs for two wickets in as many games. Srikkanth had also slammed the Delhi pacer after he ended up leaking 54 runs for a solitary wicket against Sri Lanka in the Super 4s. “Harshit Rana does too many filmy gimmicks. All these filmy reactions aren’t of any use, you’ve to actually bowl well. He also exhibits these dramatic reactions in the IPL. This is not a good attitude; it’s just showboating. He drives after the ball is already past him. Why dive after the goal has already been scored? Aggression is different, but showing so much at a young age is why he got punished today,” the former India captain had said.
