Changing lives through a movement called football
Posted by Vijay Barse - 18/04/2008
I started with conducting matches for slums in our area, to keep them from bad habits. But today 7 years later it has reached a national proportion. Our pilot project YOUNGSTARS has been well received with nearly children from 4 villages taking part. We provide them with training followed by milk and then we engage them in studies.
This year we will extending slum football tournament to nearly 20 states in India. Starting at city level, then state level and finishing of at National Level at which the national team is selected. We believe in reaching the last sportsperson, so we start at grassroot and take it to the top.
The rule is "Play the Game", at the local level there is no restriction on kits and shoes the ground measurement also varies. What does not change is the enthusiasm that oversweeps everyone around.
Every year our co-ordinators go to new cities and villages to encourage youth to take up this challenge, out of this youth select local representatives who represent their areas. The team of Krida Vikas Sanstha is ever expanding with new coordinators being added to the board.
Female players are especially encouraged to take part, an all female team is also in preparation and will soon feature at our national tournament.
Taking a cue from this we have also started a year round project especially targeting the rural young children. We take pride in saying that football has not only changed their lives but also the lives of their parent. The children are reporting better grades in their schools which has boosted parents interest in the game.
We plan to take this project to as many villages as possible.
