"I now feel equal to boys as we too are getting the opportunity to play and not be burdened with just household chores"
The Intricacies of a Sport and the Skills it Teaches
July 1, 2024
Reading Time: 3 minutesFaith Foundation’s Insights
This is one of three stories part of a case study on how Shadhika’s Partners have found sports to be an effective tool for community mobilization and youth engagement. Read the other stories here and here.
This is a story of impact for not just one, but many adolescent girls that Shadhika’s Partner Faith Foundation has been working with in the rural villages of Meghalaya (in the northeast of India) for the past eight years.
Recently, the coaches for Faith Foundation’s Frisbee program initiated the appointment of a Spirit Captain and Team Captain. The Spirit Captain is responsible for encouraging the team, giving positive comments, initiating conversations during the spirit circle, and maintaining peace and decorum throughout the game. The spirit circle is a platform that the coach uses to teach short life skills sessions like time management, communication, understanding one’s body, setting boundaries, and healthy and unhealthy relationships.
By acquiring these skills, girls learn how to prioritize their tasks, understand their self worth, and build their confidence and healthy relationships with each other. The Team Captain is responsible for ensuring that frisbee equipment is available during the game and leading the warm up sessions before each practice session. Each month, two adolescent girls are nominated and selected by the team and the coaches for these roles.
With these new roles entrusted to them, the girls have become more responsible and proven their leadership abilities. The new roles also provide girls with a platform to teach new girls the basic technical skills of frisbee. Faith Foundation has observed many young girls using their grit and determination to go from playing amongst themselves in their villages to competing with youth from across the state. One of the adolescent girls shares that ‘I now feel equal to boys as we too are getting the opportunity to play and not be burdened with just household chores’.
Watch a friendly frisbee match by Faith Foundation!
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