Pro Sport Development celebrates International Women’s Day 2017 in Bhubaneswar

Pro Sport Development (PSD) held interactive workshops in celebration of International Women’s Day 2017 at five of its Community Sports Program centres in Bhubaneswar, Odisha from 27 February to 8 March, 2017. The workshops saw the participation of 201 children (46% girls), aged 9-14 years old.

The workshops were conducted by PSD’s trainers, with the assistance of volunteers from KIIT University and consisted of classroom sessions and practical sessions. The classroom sessions involved interactive activities aimed to educate the children about International Women’s Day. These activities included informing the children about the importance of the day, why it is celebrated, along with the students learning about inspirational Indian women. To conclude the classroom sessions, the children were asked which women in their lives have been an inspiration for them. Bijaylaxmi Sethi, a 13 year old girl from Bhaktakbi Madhusudan School said, “My mother is my inspiration because she always takes care of me, my grandmother and father and she helps and encourages me in my studies.”

For the practical session, 10 girls (two from each centre) were given the opportunity to lead their favourite game to their peers. For PSD trainer Laxmi Priya Sahu, this was fantastic to see.

It is great to see the girls lead the sessions; they are confident, giving clear instructions, encouraging their group and being creative with the progressions they use.

The opportunity for the girls to lead a session allowed them to show and develop their leadership, communication and creative skills. Abhilipsa Maharana, 12, from Vivekananda Siksha Kendra School said, “As a coach I was happy; my class listened to me in my session and they enjoyed playing the game. I encouraged them throughout the game. To be a leader was challenging for me but I was able to do it.”

The workshops were well received by the centres. Mr Ajay, who teaches Class 6 at Bina Bharati Vidya Mandir School, was very happy that the students had this opportunity to participate in the workshop. He said, “We are very happy to celebrate International Women’s Day; it is important for our students to learn about Women’s Day. It also gave two of our female students the chance to lead a game and become a leader, which they enjoyed doing.”

Overall, the International Women’s Day workshops educated the students, teachers, volunteers and trainers about the values of Women’s Day, along with showcasing these values through the young female leaders. The experiences and information from this workshop will inspire this young generation to play their roles in realising Goal 5 of Gender Equality from the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

[This article has been edited by the Operating Team.]