Krish Sports Foundation aims at rendering a nationwide stepping platform to young athletes. We work to mould the livelihood, health and future among the tribal youth of India. The center of our foundation is sports and hence, with the help of the same, we aim at doing all of this.
Therefore, keeping in mind the exposure that these tribal athletes would need, we came up with a program- ‘Sports Super 30’. The first batch of this program was trained in the district- Dhule and then the shortlisted candidates came to Mumbai for enhanced training. We chose Mumbai as it is a metropolitan city that can sustain and provide more experiences to them for further learning.
Batch 1 of Sports Super 30 was trained first in Dhule district of Maharashtra and then was brought down to Mumbai on January 20, 2020. The training in Mumbai was rigorous and fulfilled all: physical, mental and emotional bucket of an individual. The intention of this Mumbai workshop is the overall growth of these athletes.
Without wasting much time, we started with morning training sessions, the diet plans and personality development classes. We had taken help from professionals in these fields thus all sessions were designed by them. All these sessions are developed to broaden their mindset. They woke up early in the morning and did many activities during the whole day that helped them keep busy while making sure that they were having fun while learning.
Not only that, while they were getting trained, they also had the privilege to meet Dr. Ajay Deshmukh- Registrar of Mumbai University. He interacted with these athletes and counseled them while also imparting advice about how to utilize our platform for making a successful career.
On February 6, we organized a ‘Cancer Awareness Program’. We organized such a program so as to broaden the mindset of these budding athletes. We wanted them to understand that even though the society has made a huge stigma out of it, there are people who are living with it and that it is ‘normal’. We wanted to make sure that they understand that by modifying their lifestyle in a better way- they can prevent the risk factors such like alcohol, diet and tobacco abuse. We also informed them about the fact that 30% of the cases are prevented because of these precautions.
After this informative session, we continued with their proper physical training for around a week as they had something more exciting coming up.
It was February 12th when we had the ‘Adidas run’. We collaborated with Team Adidas for an early morning run. It was a 6km run that needed them to put all their strength and training in it. The runners from Adidas made these athletes do some basic warm-up exercises and stretching and super soon they were good to go. The route was simple- starting from Bandra fort and coming back via Carter’s road. It was a fun and energetic session with them. After the run was over, we went to watch the sunrise at Worli Sea Link and at an open gym for further exercising.
We had already ticked off two sessions from our list- one that requires more of their mental level and other that requires more of their physical body. But now, we wanted to inculcate a program that would make them use both. Therefore, we organized Beach Cleanup Program that was to be held on 17th of February.
We started off early morning and had the team of ‘ivolunteer’ with us. They started by telling about the danger our marine life is in. They discussed about what and how we can do things to improvise the conditions that have been prevailing due to human negligence towards it. One of the major activities that affect this is dumping of plastic in the water. After briefing these young athletes about the issues, we started with cleaning the beach. After they were done with it, we made them complete their morning training there itself. It was a new experience exercising by the beach for them. After the training ended, we continued our discussion and later on went to have breakfast. As everyone was exhausted after such a start, we left for our hostel premises.
Apart from all of this, we also wanted them to know the other perspectives of being an athlete. We wanted them to understand the fear, pressure and pride that one undergoes while playing professionally. We wanted them to experience the excitement about achieving something and representing your country in front of billions of people. Hence, we took them for the India VS Australia match at Wankhede Stadium. Even though India lost the match, they didn’t let them down. They still cheered for them and clapped. Later on as the match got over, we headed towards Mumbai Cricket Association and had a good interaction there. They also met the founder of the foundation- Mr. Navin Shetty. It was again a very amazing experience.
As soon as the month end came, we had to bid farewell to our athletes. It was the time for them to go back to their hometown and start with their own journey. As we wanted to end this beautiful journey on a beautiful note, we contacted NMIMS once again for their support. We attended their Annual Sports Meet. Our athletes too participated with all enthusiasm. The meet concluded with the founder- Mr. Navin Shetty applauding our team’s work as well as the spirit of these athletes.
On their last day in Mumbai, they were provided with their certificates where they also got to meet Amrish Bhai Patel. We bid them there and gave them a farewell.
It was a splendid journey with the first batch of Sports Super 30. We had loads and loads of fun together while learning new things. The whole team of Krish Sports Foundation looks forward to many more exciting programs and experiences and wishes these young athletes a happy and safe journey!
