A football practice session involves drills that are aimed at preparing the players for various
situations they may find themselves in during the football matches. At the FC
Goa’s Grassroot Center, there were drills of a different kind, aimed at
preparing the young ones not just for the matches but for life in general.
Through the community clean-up initiative
that is part of the #TackleTrashTogethercampaign, the children are taught the
importance of garbage segregation via regular clean ups and workshops conducted
at the 16 centres. Gloves and collection bags are provided for the same. They
recently had a community clean-up behind Coco beach with the children from
their Santa Cruz Centre and another one, which also included a workshop on
segregation, with children from their Assagao Union Centre, where trash around
the school compound and field was collected.
“We feel this programme will help instil a
sense of concern in our students about the growing garbage problem and teach
them how to manage waste responsibly, while also allowing them to give back to
the community. Clean fields will also allow us to enjoy this beautiful game
together,” says Jill Ferguson, Managing Director, Forca Goa Foundation.
While everyone knows about FC Goa and its
performances in the Indian Super League (ISL) since the league’s inception,
over the last year, FC Goa’s sister concern, Forca Goa Foundation, has been
working beyond the league.
The Foundation adopted its name from the club’s war cry, which
stands for the ‘Force of Goa’. Using the common culture of football to bring
the community together and by empowering the community, it aims at bringing
about a positive change in Goa to co-create a more sustainable future.
Among the varied outreach programmes is their life skills
workshop, where Forca Goa conducts monthly sessions on a variety of topics in
order to help the children’s overall development. “We know that not every child
we train will grow up to be a professional football player, but every child’s
personal development should benefit from participating in our programs. The
calendar of life skills workshops we have designed is meant to help the youth
we work with to become well rounded active members of their community, ” adds
Jill.
The foundation has partnered with schools across Goa and has
reached out to over 1,500 children across the state between the ages of 6 to
14.
Besides schools, the foundation also set up a Forca Goa Student
Youth Council at Chowgule College and they plan to set up more of these at
colleges across the state. The youth on these councils are provided with the
information and tools they need, to be active citizens in society by addressing
issues that are prevalent in their community and finding sustainable solutions
for the same. Forca Goa Foundation along with CircleWallas use the Art of
Hosting practice to conduct leadership workshops, in which they help to build
their capacity and confidence to go out and act as a catalyst for change within
their community.
At one such interaction that was held at Chowgule College, the
students were engaged in the entire process and came up with several
initiatives that they could launch on campus.
While there are other initiatives such as those on education and
nutrition, Forca Goa has also been running a campaign to empower citizens and
urge them to attend and participate in their local self-governing system. The
campaign explains and elaborates what a Gram Sabha is and the role it plays for
concerned citizens.
“We hope to help educate people about these meetings – their
purpose, operations and timings, to then mobilise higher levels of attendance
and thus participation in local governance,” says Nathaniel D’Costa, one of the
foundation’s key team members.
Similar workshops were held at their Grassroot Centers as well,
with the aim of the active citizen workshops being to create well rounded and
aware citizens.
“We use these workshops to help educate the children about the
power they have to effect change and have a positive impact in their own
communities,” adds Jill.
Coming
back to football and developing the sport at a grassroots level, the foundation
also focuses on various initiatives such as its grassroots level tournaments,
creating a platform for developing coaches, training programmes for children,
among other such activities.
