When Shaumil Mazmudar and Parminder Gill founded Sportz Village in 2003, it was to highlight why ‘play’ is important in a child’s overall development.
Gill says, “Some of us felt we had lost the game. When we went to school, and then when our children left, many things changed. But there hasn’t been a change in the way schools or parents view sports or physical activity – instead, we’ve seen it drop from children’s lives due to a number of reasons (sacrificing lifestyles, use of gadgets as opposed to active playtime, etc.).
And so, Sportz Village was established to engage children in sports and sports as part of their core education. For almost its first decade, the Bengaluru-based organization worked with private schools who were able to pay for their sports and physical education programs. Now, Sportz Village operates in 22 states – including Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Haryana, and West Bengal – and also does significant work in rural areas.
Why play?
Soumil says that over the past 20 years, schools have tried several models of getting kids to play in a sustainable and scalable way before settling on the partnership model.
“Giving adults — who control the quality and quantity of a child’s experience in the space — accurate data and visibility around the process, as well as the impact on the goals they care about (attendance, grades, fitness, sports, and so on). can help 100 million kids play,” his opinion.
This, he noted, is possible through a structured program that integrates with the school PE schedule, is designed for limited space and time, and provides resources, data, and visibility to the various stakeholders involved. Most of all, it achieves “100% of children developing the right fitness, skills and attitude to play for life”.
In 2017, the organization launched the Sportz Village Foundation to help raise corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds and expand its reach to government schools.
“CSR laws require corporates to invest only in non-profits,” says Gill. “The new structure was important so that we would not be hampered in raising funds to run programs in government schools. Although the structure of our programs and the quality of experience for children are the same in private and public schools, the Foundation allows us to achieve different goals. There are various things that undermine the system in government schools that cater to children from underserved communities… the biggest one is social-emotional skills.”
Some examples of social-emotional skills are the ability to understand your thoughts and feelings and the ability to relate to others. These skills are recognized as important for personal development and building healthy relationships.
50,000 lives changed
Keeping children, especially girls, in school is their next priority, says Gill, as the dropout rate in government schools is very high.
The program, called ‘Sports for Change’, works on three levels. At the base is sports education, which involves teaching children basic physical and sports skills. “The main objective of the program was to integrate children into games and sports because it was central to their experience and development process, whether they wanted to be athletes or not,” Gill said.
According to Upma Kansava Jain, who manages marketing and communications for the foundation, more than 50,000 students are currently involved in its programs.. They wanted to pave the way for those who excel in sports and take it forward. Then, the next level is their sports excellence program PathwayZ, where interested or selected children are given expert training at their Sports Development Centers (SDC).
These centers are located in the schools where they work. At the higher level, they take the best performing student-athletes from the SDCs and enroll them in the High-Performance Learning Centers (HPLC), where they are also provided with match and tournament opportunities, and given scouting information about the district, state. and national selection tests.
Of the 50,000 students in its programs, more than 2,200 are enrolled in sports development centers, with about 60% boys and the rest girls.
Finally, their High Performance Learning Center has about 40 students, about half of whom are boys and half are girls. “They are called for the trials that are happening at the district level,” said Jain. “If they perform, then state level, then national level programs.”
Shaping athletes
Different geographical areas offer different sports depending on the infrastructure available in the schools. For example, in Lucknow and Noida, children play volleyball, cricket, football, Kabaddi and athletics. Sports Development Centers operate six days a week and host two-hour sessions a day. Depending on the school, sessions are held in the morning or evening. Children are given T-shirts, shorts, shoes and more nutrition in the form of bananas, eggs and milk.
In cases where the child’s parents do not allow them to attend sports events, the foundation’s program managers reach out to the parents to tell them how good their child is at sports, and everything is paid for, so they don’t have to. Worry about any extra expenses.
According to Ranvijay Gupta, a program manager in Uttar Pradesh, the foundation has also faced unique opposition. “(Parents) tell us, ‘You’re spoiling our kids by letting them play outside. This is not our culture. We can’t let them go out and play. “
At the same time, he makes it clear that it is possible to change the minds of these parents as well. “It takes time,” he says. “I get help from other parents whose children are in the program. I ask them to come and support us. We have a second meeting, and a third meeting. After that, we usually convince them, and they send their wards to us. ”
Based on his experience, 70% of the feedback he receives from parents is positive.
Gupta (38) is in charge of programs at Lucknow and Noida-based schools supported by the HCL Foundation. He joined Sportz Village in 2010 and moved to Foundation in 2017. According to her, when they started the program, their SDC had only 5 to 10 girls, but now they regularly work with more than 600 girls.
He said, ‘So far we have helped more than 450 children to play in district level competitions, more than 100 in state level and more than 30 in national level. “It’s very satisfying for me.”
Build role models
One of those girls is Rukhsar studying in Government Class 11th. Girls Inter College Vikas Nagar in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. She is a hobbyist Kabaddi player and wants to represent India one day. However, at first, his circumstances held him back. Her father earns Rs 7,000 a month working in the private sector and did not support her desire to become one Kabaddi player, although his mother and three siblings did.
The Sports for Change program gave him the opportunity to train with expert coaches and sports nutritionists, paving the way for him to play while learning life skills such as leadership.
As a result, in the last six months, Rukhsar has been selected for Uttar Pradesh Senior Women’s State and Junior Girls’ State. Kabaddi Teams. She is also the first player in the triple jump at the district level.
Rukhsar says, “My parents are feeling better now because I am traveling to different places, meeting new people and my game is getting better.
The foundation hires specialized coaches to conduct its sports excellence programs. Coaches must have played at the state level in their sport and have a minimum qualification of a bachelor’s degree in education. However, as the organization has grown, hiring good trainers has been a hindrance as funding has not kept pace.
They are also training children as trainers through their program. Since the foundation is relatively new, the first batch of potential trainers from within is only now on the horizon. “Soon, we will hire two or three girls from our program,” says Gupta. The advantage of having indigenous coaches is that they are already familiar with the program, and being from the same community as the children, can continue the program and serve as role models.
Beyond the sports field
Sportz Village Foundation has conducted several studies to determine the impact of its programs on education, health and empowerment. One of them concluded that in about 390 schools supported by Ashok Leyland, children were more likely to attend school and 18 months after the program started, there was a 10% increase in fitness levels.
Another study with the Sports Authority of Gujarat showed a 23% increase in female participation in after-school programs two years after the program began.
They also conduct an annual health survey, the most recent results of which claim that 95% of children have improved their fitness level, 92% have improved their communication skills and 78% have developed more emotional skills when faced with challenges.
The foundation has set ambitious goals for 2023. It wants to add 100,000 kids to its programs and enable more than 1,000 student-athletes to perform at the highest level. Improving gender perception and inclusiveness is another priority.
Gupta says, “There are still some barriers in our society based on gender. “I think at the policy level, there should be an equal focus on inclusivity so that more talented girls can come forward without hesitation, participate in sports and ultimately win medals for India.”
“Creating role models for India’s children and youth within and outside the field of sports can serve as a way to nurture athletes, especially girls,” says Gill.
Edited by Divya Sethu