Tag: Education

YFC Rurka Kalan – Changing the Game

YFC Rurka Kalan

YFC Rurka Kalan
Image Credit: YFC Rurka Kalan Website

It’s the year 2001. The sleepy hamlet of Rurka Kalan, about 40 kilometres from Phagwara in the state of Punjab, is plagued by crime and substance abuse. Almost an entire generation of youth are squandering away their futures. Enter Gurmangal Dass, an electronics engineer, who has returned some years ago from the US after giving up a promising job – a man with a vision for brighter future and a steely resolve to free the village from the clutches of drugs.

Cut to the present – the year 2015. Youth Football Club (YFC) Rurka Kalan now has centres spread across 9 villages in Punjab, touches over 10,000 lives, houses a 5,000 seater sports stadium, operates in the areas of education, sports, health and environment and, amazingly, offers every single service at no cost whatsoever to young people in need.

This is the story of YFC Rurka Kalan – much more than a grassroots football club.

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Performance Over Results

Contributed by Ajeya Row – Head, Soccer Schools, Pune FC

One of the greatest travesties of grassroots football is watching a coach jumping and yelling along the touchline as s/he sucks the joy out of the game for the kids out on the pitch. I recently caught an Under-12 game where a school coach cursed and heckled his own player for misplacing a pass! It was disgraceful.

When I think back to why coaches behave like that in training or at a game, there are a few reasons that come to mind:

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Let the Kids Play

While some parents undermine the importance of sports, other young elite athletes dismiss the value of education.  The truth, however, is that sport and education go hand-in-hand. An alert, intelligent mind driving a physically fit body is important for success in any field.

When it comes to grassroots football, specifically, education plays a key role in enabling young footballers to process various stimuli in real-time on the pitch and make better decisions. At the same time, experiences on the field – winning, losing, coming back from behind, working selflessly for the team, for example – help children develop character. In fact, most of life’s greatest lessons aren’t learned in classrooms, they’re borne of experience. And football is one such avenue that makes men and women who are mentally and physically stronger.

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