Empower girls in rural India to be Champions

Mann deshi champions is a sports program offered by Mann deshi foundation to empower rural youth through sports. This project focuses on providing access to training, fostering physical health and providing opportunities in sports and building leadership qualities. The organization targets young athletes from villages and helps them by providing training and financial assistance. In recent years the participation of girls has increased with compared to the boys which really is a great change in a country like India where people still thinks that women are meant for kitchens only. A free bus service is organized to bring children from the town and surrounding village to the training fields where all the students are trained by different coaches according to their interest. Mann deshi is playing a crucial role in preparing over 100 athletes for various government positions including the police, armed forces, railways, and income tax department.

In the month of June our coaches organized time trails were also organized by the organization to know the real potential of athletes and to also increase the confidence level of students.

Recently in May, a summer camp was organized where students were involved in different sports activities like swimming, football, volleyball and athletics where they learned new things. A campaign is also conducted by the organization where a group of people visits the villages and demonstrate the importance of sports to the parents and the children, where they convince them to participate in Championship program. Nowadays athletes are also preparing for district and state level competition. Few children books are also distributed to the athletes in which few stories are shared with them. One of the athlete Mansi shared her reading experience in which she told us a story of a girl who was an Archery player and was having an injury in her wrist due to which she was unabe to participate in the competition but keeping her injury aside she performed at the competition.

Through this program Mann deshi is providing required facilities, equipment, coaching, training and nutrition to the athletes. To develop rural community and empower women on grass root, Mann deshi champions is using sports as a tool to improve lives of children.

 Story

Santoshi comes from a small village in Maharashtra where her family traditionally do farming. She is currently in 12^th standard and is an active member of Mann deshi champions for past four years. She enthusiastically participates in various running events and also have participated in District level 1500 M running compwtiton.
Presently she is preparing for District level championship and aims to perform at national level championship. She aims to become a professional runner and wants to make running as her career.