How a crowdfunded programme in India is bringing children into sports!

A crowd-funded campaign by Pro Sport Development is bringing a change in the lives of children living in the slums of Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The 30-week programme teaches children crucial life-skills aiding in their holistic development.

Sport is an essential part of a child’s development and has been a key contributor in the development of physical and mental health of children. Through participation in sports, children learn various skills aiding in the development of their personalities and becoming confident individuals. Today, when sport is losing importance in the lives of children due to online games and the internet, several organisations are working at the grassroots towards the promotion of sports.

Pro Sport Development (PSD) is one such award winning social enterprise working towards empowerment of youth through sport at the grassroots in India, playing a role in advocating the lifelong importance of sports by providing a safe environment for children from underprivileged areas.

One of PSD’s flagship programmes, Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) is part of the Community Sports Programme and reaches out to five schools, impacting over 200 children (39% girls) across Bhubaneswar, Odisha. This programme, supported through crowd-funding campaigns, is focused on using sports to develop the physical literacy of children. FMS has a unique sports curriculum comprised of localised games to reach out to more children. Moreover, the games are designed to help the participants develop their fundamental movement skills while maximising the fun quotient.

The curriculum is divided into two age categories (4-7 years and 8-10 years) and spread over a 30 weeks in a year. The activities in the FMS programme has been developed after extensive research by a team of sports scientists and experts with a sole focus on improving the sports based experiences as a child.

Rajesh Bamuda, a 10-year old participant from the FMS programme says that, “the games in FMS are really interesting and involves a lot of body movement which has helped me in improving my body balance and concentration”.

Bhaktamohan Swain a PSD Trainer at the FMS programme says that “the FMS program not only teaches children basic movement skills, but also teaches them sportsman spirit and how to respect each other.’’

Through such programmes PSD aims at achieving their goals of creating a safe environment for children to play, an environment where inequality is nonexistent and children get an opportunity to develop their confidence and self-esteem. For the upcoming season, PSD aims to reach out to more students and schools by advocating the benefits of the programme to various stakeholders such as the government, school principals, and teachers.