YFC's 1st Youth Leadership Camp on Football organized with MagicBus

YFC Rurka Kalan consigning with MagicBus has successfully completed Youth Leadership Camp on Sports For Development between 1st July and 8th July 2014. This project is a joint collaboration between YFC Rurka Kalan and MagicBus to empower the youth members of Punjab and educate them through sports development sessions.

The camp was held at Norah Richards House, Punjabi University, Andretta, Himachal Pradesh where 28 young participants were identified and selected for 8 day leadership training who would later deliver Sports for development sessions for the children in their respective community centres run by YFC.

The camp kicked off by establishing ground rules emphasizing respect of differences and diversity. Despite the nervousness at first, an ice breaker lead by the main facilitator of the camp, Nitin Bane (National Trainer) from MagicBus managed to break the ice through team building activities. Vaibhavi, senior trainer from MagicBus joined in the afternoon to discuss the essence of the camp, concept of sports for development and Millennium Development Goals set by United Nations. Participants were asked about their expectations from the camp and what they want to learn to become a youth mentors.

The camp was divided in two major sections – Basic Training Course for participants aged between 17-22 and Advance Training Course for Senior Coaches which were held for 8 days and 3 days respectively. Three facilitators Nitin Bane, Jason Rasquinha and Arvind Kumar conducted lectures and practical sessions for Basic Training Course. The participants learned how to effectively lead the coaching sessions with joyful learning, maximum participation, experiential learning and safe environment – the 5 pillars of coaching.

Various group activities were conducted to empower mentors for the purpose of handling and resolving conflicts, gender inequality, disrespect, unfairness and many other issues that exist in their community. As far as Advance Training is concerned, the facilitators Nitin Bane, Vaibhavi Bhalekar and Pritam Prasun taught senior coaches about Leadership, Qualities of a good coach, mentorship, Difference between mentors and coaches, Monitoring and Evaluation.

One of the participants Lovepreet commented, “It has been an honour and privileged to attend this camp. I learned how to become a good leader in my community. I didn’t know how football can be used for development. Earlier I used to just come on the ground and play, but the camp has given me a new outlook. I am now aware of how football can affect our lives especially to create peace and respect.”

The final day of the camp started off with a group session where participants reflected upon the eight days and shared what they have learned from the trainers and from each other. In order to keep it interesting and competitive, their knowledge was tested through quizzes and rapid fire rounds through which winners were chosen via maximum points. In the evening, the youth themselves organized a cultural night as part of the closing ceremony where each demonstrated their culture through poetry, dance and songs.

YFC President Gurmangal Dass appreciated the effort and mentioned, “This is part of the growth and development of our youth players as young men. When they go through the game of football, there are life lessons taught to them about being respectful, accountable and having great commitment to each other. I am grateful to MagicBus who have taken the initiative of instilling confidence in our young mentors. Through this joint partnership, we are aiming to reach 2000 children in the next 2 years across Punjab.”