Magic Bus team stood third in the IV Division leagues matches of Mumbai District Football Association!!!!!!

 

May to January 2007  
PROGRAMME
Girls & boys come together without any inhibitions to play the game of football!
 
No winners or losers only learners..!!!

Nearly 1000 girls and boys participated in the football zonal tournaments held this year. The zonal matches are platforms where children are exposed to a healthy competitive environment, opportunity to practise fair play, and learn to cope with the feelings of winning or losing.

This year, the participation of girls was higher and one could see Pooja, Reshma, Anita, playing forward positions and attacking the opponents confidently. Naresh, Anwar, Deepak and others encouraged the girls in their team and would often be seeing giving tips on strategies during ther matches. Girls and boys played football confidently as a team, without exhibiting any inhibitions.

"In a game apart from the skills it is more important to communicate using proper tone and support each other" - An observation of the peer leaders volunteering at the zonal matches.


(Picture courtesy Kaushal Parekh)

 

Magic Bus team stood third in the IV Division league matches of MDFA

Indian Advisory Partners have sponsored a team of 22 aspiring footballers who were selected to form a specialised Magic Bus football team. These young boys, enrolled in the programme since four years, undergo strenuous football training three times a week. The team were registered this year in the IV Division of Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA). A huge achievement was when the boys made us proud by maintaining their cool, discipline, and respect for the opponent team, especially during moments when the game got rough and tense.

Ajay the team's coach and our community programme manager lays emphasis on striving to achieve excellence through regular practise, discipline and persistent efforts to achieve the maximum of one's potential. He makes it a point that the children understand the concepts of fair play and consciously implement them in the game. His training also emphasizes on maintaining health and building physical & mental strength.

Tejas, diligently, every week, watched the Magic Bus football sessions from the edge of the ground. Noticing his keen interest in the game, Ajay enrolled him into the programme 3 years back. This aspiring 12 year old footballer, living in the slums of Mumbai, topped the PIFA (Premier Indian Football Academy) skill test sponsored by Nike. He scored a whooping 770 points among 380 children from elite schools and won a 4- day training programme at the prestigious Bobby Charlton Academy in Mumbai.

Trekking to the mountain tops...

Over 1000 children had an exposure to a trekking experience in the mountains around Mumbai learning about the environment, teamwork and overcoming obstacles through adventure based learning.

The first timers to an experience of trekking were the Explorers who trekked in the hills of Tungareshwar, situated in an evergreen forest with a flowing river. The children were delighted to explore adventures in the 'jungle'. Crossing the river proved a challenge, the children formed a safety chain to wade across the river. The day was spent learning about safety in water, new friendships were made and a game of antakshari (songs) at the end of the trek was a good energizer.

The Challengers, our 'veteran' trekkers, had a first time overnight trekking exposure. The children spent the night in a village below the foothills of Peth, made a campfire and understood its uses in a forest. At dawn, the children started their trekking to reach the summit. For many children just walking through the terraces of rice fields on the mountains was an overwhelming experience. Reaching the top and completing the trek is an experience that can only be felt rather than expressed.

 


Camping outdoors

Over 700 children went through an experiantial learning process in our Magic Bus Center for Learning & Development. The adventure residential camps were filled with activities like low ropes course, nature trail, treasure hunt, raft building, artificial wall climbing filled with many fun filled energizer, creativity sessions and ice breaking activities.

The Bal Kalyan Nagri camp is worth a mention as the children had an experience of an outdoor residential camp that gave them a sense of freedom from the closed and restricted environment of a remand home. I suppose the camp not only gave a sense of freedom and joy to the children but even their supervisor Mrs. Joshi who expressed, "In 62 years, for the first time, I have been so happy" after climbing the rock wall in a saree!