Moment of Joy – DAIS
Background: Sports is a very dynamic field. Most school ensure that their sports department is well equipped and updated. They encourage active participation in competitive games to ensure that the students learn and practice to better themselves at the game. It needs regular update and upkeep of techniques, equipment and coaching skills. Schools in the interior or rural parts of the country seem to be grappling with budget constraints and available funds are diverted to the essential part of the academics like classroom needs and sports takes a back seat. Taking cognizance of this need, students of Dhirubhai Ambani International School have taken up the task of supporting the sporting needs of the children at the grass root level.
The initiative: The Moment of Joy (MOJ) initiative is aimed at generating funds through donation and contribution to provide equipment and training to school children identified in the rural/tribal areas. The project has association with SRFI (The Squash Rackets Federation of India with a 3 Star rating all India) and international institutions like SEK Ciudal Campo in Madrid. The students of DAIS now aim to take this concept to promote sports at the grass root level through the villages they have adopted as well as through NGO tie-ups. The students work in these villages to provide infrastructure and education support.
The Beginning:
The initial awareness was generated through a promotional campaign created by the students on social media through Facebook (https://m.facebook.com/DAISMomentOfJoy/), Instagram (Momentofjoy2017 – Instagram) and Snapchat accounts sharing the need to promote sports and its physical and mental benefits as well as to promote the MOJ initiative. The promotion campaign the need to promote sports at the grass root level and urged the readers to help put India on the sports map of the world by supporting this initiative. (SquashSkills UK (www.squashskills.com) they have promoted our event on their facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/squashskills/)
Building Awareness: A core team comprising of 13 students from IBD year 12, were responsible for interviewing numerous eminent personalities to help bolster support and awareness for the tournament. They shared the information about the NGOS and villages that needed support for developing sports. MOJ received endorsements rights from the chairperson Smt. Nita Ambani to sports legend like Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupati, Sachin Tendulkar, Harinder Sandhu, Anant Vishwanathan, Borja Golan National Squash Coach of India as well as the DAIS alumni’s like Madhav Dingra (squash), Leah Poonawala (football), Siddharth Sankhe (swimmer) and even from Bollywood star Mr. Abhishek Bachchan.
Peer Awareness with DAIS: The MOJ 2017 team made a presentation of the ‘Moment of Joy project’ to the class 10th and 11th students to encourage them to join in the cause and help take the project forward. Looking forward to an even greater and even more impactful event next year!
Fund Raiser:
The students of DAIS organised a 5 days Squash Tournament -“A Moment of Joy – A Sports Fundraiser” from 13th to 17th January, 2017 at Otters Club, Mumbai. The tournament had 250 participants who paid a participation fee of INR 600 which was their contribution to the cause, and most of the winners eventually donated their prize money to MOJ. The tournament had been given a 3-star rating by the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) and all proceeds will be employed for empowering underprivileged children with sports facilities.
The event attracted the brightest squash talents from across the country, with numerous ranked players playing against one another for both glory and charity. The tournament featured boys and girls from various age categories, with players being classified as under-11, under-13, under-15, under-17 and under-19. The chief guest of this event was Mr Viren Rasquinha the former caption of the Indian hockey team who is also an Arjuna Awardee and the CEO of Olympic world quest. (Link of the federation website is www.indiasquash.com. )
The initiative received a generous donation from the corporate giant Reliance and the SEK Ciudal campo International School generated funds through a donation drive in their school during their sports day to support the cause. At DAIS the student team raised additional funds during the schools fete, through sale of merchandise as well as through contribution towards the cause. The overall impact of this moment positively impacted 500 people, including adults who participated and contributed to make this event a success.
The progress so far: 200 students benefit from Supporting Khelshala
(http://www.khelshala.in/):
Khelshala is a charitable organisation committed to enhancing the future of under-privileged children by building life skills through sport, academics & extra-curricular activities. Khelshala aims to be a leader in the movement to leverage sport to achieve social change in India, one village at a time. MOJ contributed a sum of INR 2,50,000 towards building a 200m athletics track at the Khelshala Majra site with an aim to promote the spirit and importance of sports.
MOJ way forward:
MOJ will continuously identify avenues to develop and sports on an ongoing basis.
EAR- This NGOs that educates and empowers hearing impaired students is preparing students to participate in JUDO competitions and need funds to buy JUDO uniforms and crash mats for practising the sport. MOJ will contribute a sum of INR 1,00,000 to provide the necessary support for participating students.
Baljeevan – An NGO that supports education of street children is looking to prepare their students to participate in Judo training. MOJ is considering supporting their cause through a contribution of INR 1,00,000 to facilitate their cause. This contribution will enable the organisation to provide Judo gears that are essential to participate in competitions and training mats that are required for safety during their training.
Village Kumbhargarh: This is the hamlet of tribals has been adopted by DAIS and students have regularly visited the hamlet to build houses for the villagers who were living in houses made of mud and sticks. The students have also built a primary school building for the children of his village. Plans are underway to identify the sporting needs of this village as well as its surrounding village schools and provide the facilities to promote sports in that area.
Empower the coach:
Talk and Technique Programme:
The physical education trainers / coaches/ teachers of the local schools for the under privileged will be invited for a for a talk by veterans in the field of sports, health & nutrition, mental health of students etc to understand the emotional, physical and mental health of a sports person and the ways to maintain their wellbeing. DAIS will host these forum discussions in their school premises initially to promote this cause.
- Thank you