Youthful Nation

Power of Sports for Development (S4D) 

The nation is always young and has many of us in transition. The young aspire for a better world the nations must evolve and keep up with the needs and aspirations of the youth. Youth development is really the crux of nation building, the country that takes care of the young people develops and goes on to become not only rich in wealth and culture but evolves as a real welfare state. There is thus the necessity of having a healthy and more fit young populace. The core of the youthful nation will only be strengthened by promoting physical recreation in the life of the young people.

Education many a times is touted and promoted as literacy; promotes the need to read and write for a better future, this is not enough. We need thinking and understanding and that is really the bottom line for a better future. There is the growing need for mentors to help the young, empower them to live in harmony with nature, encourage them to serve the community and more so be physically fit and better skilled than simply educated in the read and write way. We all have to work to equip for life the young, challenge them to achieve their true potential and keep the nation young, dynamic and on the growth path always.

India's rise in economic terms is closely linked to the youth power, and all investments in building youth capital will help the young equip for life. Yes, inclusive growth the mantra of governments is enshrined on building up the quality of life for the young people, and we all need to partner to help the young achieve their true potential. How do we do this? Let us invest in our youth and help them all live a healthy life. The best investment in youth will be in the form of pushing sports, not necessarily at the professional level, but for better health and wellbeing, we have endless research to show that poor health will not give us the desired academic results. India today needs to give same regard to sports as it does to any of the key economic activity that generates the millions for the states exchequer.

What does industry mean? Wikipedia refers industry as an activity that brings about the production of an economic good or service within an economy. An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area. An economy may also be described as a spatially limited and social network where goods and services are exchanged according to demand and supply between participants by barter or a medium of exchange with a credit or debit value accepted within the network. Sport very much fulfils this criterion, and for the youthful nation must thus be regarded as an industry and a major service that adds to the GDP of a nation. Any nation that uses sport as a development plank not only has a healthy lifestyle, is a youthful nation in itself. These nations today are major economic powers and believe in their young people.

Physical recreation with its emphasis on both individual sport and team games is designed to build the sinews as well as team spirit. Learning to function together with other to build a team is an invaluable art. Beyond just being an industrious activity, sport is the biggest catalyst in nation building, and is the best way for social inclusion and economic development. A nation must stay young to lead in the world, and the best way is to use sport as a key development initiative. Many developed nations have even used a term of military / services training as a compulsory activity for the youth, they thus work to build on achieving the goal of inculcating patriotic sentiment, but more is done to encourage physical fitness and the love for the outdoor. All this helps the young people to be equipped for life, and this again is the only way to build a better citizenry.

The International Award for Young People (IAYP), is a tool to ‘equip for life’ young people in India and a major components of the programme are targeted at using sport and outward bound activity as key enablers. The Award Programme is the most adaptable and successful youth empowerment program. We have no religious, political or strategic affiliations. We have an established capacity for identifying hard issues and challenges associated with youth. Schools, youth organisations, community groups, correctional services, employers and government departments nationwide use the Programme framework. Around the world, over 130 countries use this model for positive youth empowerment. We draw together and connect people, institutions and generations with the common purpose of youth development and inclusion. IAYP is the Programme of choice for over 9 million people in the world today.

The prescription for a youthful nation is only one, challenge young people everywhere. The vision of any sport for development initiative should be to equip for life all young Indians and to help achieve their full potential. We see the possibility of a nation where every school offers young Indian the opportunity to be rewarded for challenging themselves, rewarded for engaging with adult mentors, rewarded when finishing school, and rewarded for giving back to their communities. This really is the spirit for a youthful nation. We all need to ensure that we work to create best ecosystem to enable our youth, and there is no better way to do this than making sport for development a key agenda in all our initiatives.

Goa Football Association- one of five Australian Sport Outreach Programme (ASOP) Partners

Since 1959, Goa Football Association (GFA) established as the official administrative body of football in the state of Goa has been making endeavouring to develop football to 'keep pace with the fast changing scenario in the country.' 

However, the local crop of players, with no structured training and  sub standard level of technical fundamentals emerged as they only had playing experiences limited to inter-village tournaments organised in the rice fields of Goa. To advance quality of competition, marketing, sponsorships and greater audiences, GFA introduced their 'Youth Development Programme' (YDP) in 1998, with financial support from Kannan Devan, a subsidiary of the Tata Tea Company. In addition to promoting professional football, GFA's YDP like the Grassroots Football Programme and the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge are equipping young players become proficient in the game. The GFA YDP aims to encourage football participation from the grassroots and provide a pathway for recreational as well as elite performance football players. 

The Youth Development Committee(YDC) introduced a new system to allow continuity of the development programme by establishing a training centre for various age groups and by training and developing 'youth coaches' for grassroot level development. The GFA partners with Clubs to organise and spread youth development. The YDC supports the clubs by providing qualified coaches, equipment and media archives of games, etc. 

The Grassroots Football Programme with the aim of developing a cadre of community sports coaches for capacity building of the GFA to deliver a high quality, regular, age-appropriate, inclusive and fun YDP for children from the ages of 8 to 14 years in Goa. GFA as one of five partners of the Australian Sports Outreach Programme (ASOP) in India believes that a game as football should be broad based and they are committed to introducing and ensuring a quality football program at the grassroots for those children who do not have access to quality sport. The motto "Better coaches, better football" serves to grow the knowledge pool of football coaches in Goa (especially at the junior/community coach level). A collaborative partnership with Football Federation Australia (FFA), to ensure that program inputs and delivery meet certain quality standards so as to benefit all concerned stakeholders as well as establish growth pathways for coaches and athletes.

For more, please visit Goa Football Association website. 

- Information taken from the Goa Football Association Website 

Special Olympics Bharat- one of five Australian Sport Outreach Programme (ASOP) Partners

Special Olympics is a global organization that allows more than 3.4 million athletes with intellectual disabilities to participate in sport. The Power of Sport has allowed hundreds of thousands of volunteers and coaches to positively affect the lives of people with intellectual disabilities each year since the establishment of Special Olympics in 1968. 

Special Olympics provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. This mission allows people affected by disabilities to get continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship. All Special Olympics activities - at the local, state, national and international levels - reflect the values, standards, ceremonies and events of the Olympic movement. Finally, most Special Olympics activities are run by local volunteers, in order to create greater awareness among people about intellectual disabilities. 

The Special Olympics Programme Bharat  has so far drawn over 37000 coaches to work with over 750234 athletes across 31 State Programs. India being designated a Priority Nation by Special Olympics International, the goal is to extend the Special Olympics programme throughout the country and reach over 1,000,000 people with Intellectual Disability by end 2012.

INITIATIVES:

Through the Athlete Leadership Programmes (ALPs) athletes can explore opportunities for greater participation in our movement beyond sports training and competition: as coaches, officials, team captains, spokespeople and Board and committee members. These leadership roles allow athletes to speak persuasively; interview with the media; mentor and speak up for other athletes; discuss their opinions on policy and governance; analyze financial reports; and research and prepare for fundraising events. 

Initiatives like Healthy Athletes programme help athletes to improve their training and competition by focusing on overall health and fitness. This is achieved through basic health screenings, provision of preventative and some treatment services, educational information, and referrals for follow-up care.

Special Olympics Unified Sports brings together athletes with and without intellectual disabilities to train and compete on the same team. Throughout the year, in a variety of sports ranging from basketball to golf to fig u re skating, Unified Sports athletes improve their physical fitness, sharpen their skills, challenge the competition and have fun, too.

A part of the worldwide movement to empower those with special abilities through the medium of sport, Special Olympics Bharat as Australian Sports Outreach Programme (ASOP) India partner will not only empower through sport, but also change attitudes and help build communities. 

As ASOP-Award India Partner, Special Olympics Bharat will Engage and Reward the lives of the motivated young people who are a part of the Special Olympics movement in India. In the first year of operations, Special Olympics Bharat and Award National Team will identify key young leaders within SO Bharat to engage in the International Award and then build participation after a year long pilot. 

- Content taken from Special Olympics Website and Special Olympics Bharat website

Award Training Centre (ATC) hosts first YES Training Workshop

The newly established ATC successfully equipped new Award Managers from YES Centre- Satpaul Mittal School,Ludhiana; Award Social Partner- B-Able and Award Adventure Partner- Rocksport about the operational and licensing principles of the Award Programme. The two day workshop allowed the Award Leaders to first get comfortable with thinking out of the box to ensure young people in their communities can be recognised for taking any initiative that targets their self development.

The Workshop with the theme 'Award beyond boundaries' allowed attendees to learn ways to assure a quality Programme. Much appreciation to Gopal Krishan, Anuj Pokhriyal, Vivek, Manjit Hamspal, Sangita Sharma their invaluable time, enthusiasm and their critical feedback.

Magic Bus- one of the five ASOP Partners

Since 1999, Magic Bus, a non profit organisation, has used a unique Sport for Development programme to empower children and youth in making effective life choices in areas of gender equality, education, health and leadership & livelihood. 

India has 22 per cent of the world's population but 46 per cent of the world's illiterates. Every sixth girl child's death in India is due to gender discrimination.7 out of 10 children on the Magic Bus Program will re-enroll and stay in school and 4 out of 10 children on the Magic Bus Program will be girls exercising their right to play and learn. 

Magic Bus' mission is 'to empower children, youth and communities in areas of education, gender, health, leadership and livelihood through sport for development'. Empowerment means 'enhancing an individual's or group's capacity to make choices and transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes'. 

Through the three degrees of empowerment i.e. 'knowledge of the presence of choice, use of the choice and the result/effectiveness of choice', Magic Bus truly empowers young poeple through Sport. By using the methods of sport and activity-based learning to achieve development goals, Magic Bus successfully creates opportunity structures for continued and sustainable development through partnership with Institutions, Government, Communities and Profit and Non Profit Organisations.

For the first 9 yrs Magic Bus was a Mumbai-based programme. The National outreach was launched in 2008 and by the end of 2012 we will be reaching out to 200,000 children and youth across India. By 2014 we aim to reach 1,000,000 children.

Magic Bus works with children and youth from vulnerable backgrounds such as urban slums, institutions and semi-urban as well as rural areas. Through engagement with parents and community members, they help build ownership and sustainability of the programme to make a wider and more sustainable difference.
 

A typical Magic Bus session held once a week, varies from 35-40 minutes to 2 hours where
25-30 children come together in an open space under the guidance of a mentor. Each community or institution is assured of 40 such sport-based learning sessions for the children per year.

Mentors in Magic Bus play a pivotal role. In addition to planning 'the developmental issue' to address based on the focus areas and feedback from community, the entire activiti session and review occurs  under the mentors supervision. These mentors also become role models for the children and youth.

As key partner to the Australian Sports Outreach Programme (ASOP), Magic Bus Sports Mentors will participate in the Award Programme in Year 1 of the ASOP-Award India partnership. A brilliant example of how young Mentors, looked upon as role models in their community/institution of operation can be recognized for their efforts for social inclusive development.