Khelo Khelo is our blog where we share many of our stories.
Happy Diwali - Khelo Sporting League
On Diwali Day we played rugby and shared messages around the Khelo Rugby theme of the month "Girl Power".
by Shivanshu Singh
The last Sunday of every month we bring all our young Khelo Rugby coaches together as a part of our Khelo Sporting League (KSL). Each month can be organised in a different way, to suit the theme we are working on, to share ideas or just to meet up and play.
Our Khelo Rugby theme for October was 'Girl Power', we'd enjoyed a great day of rugby earlier in the month on the International Day of the Girl and this KSL was a chance to review the month of activity. We had about 50 of our coaches out on the morning, they'd all worked during the month to get more girls out playing, to hold charchas on the theme and to share ideas about why this initiative was important. The coaches come from all over Kolkata, and since they don't always meet routinely, KSL also presents a good opportunity for a catch up.
Between games the coaches talked about slogan posters they'd worked on in their communities. This sharing of ideas in the group is an important activity - both in terms of discussing an important social issue but also in building up the confidence of the coaches by making an informal presentation. Developing such skills is an integral part of the Khelo Rugby journey and nothing beats skill development as practice.
The posters highlighted some of the issues the girls themselves face, they were able to talk about how they have overcome some of these or share the challenges they still face with a supportive group. Although all living in the same city, the communities the children are from are often very diverse. The problems children face are many and can be quite different from one place to another. Having the chance to discuss these with their peers is an empowering experience. The essence of charcha.
This was also Diwali and the chance of meeting up with so many rugby crazy friends was not to be missed. Sharing Diwali greetings over rugby and breakfast was fun also!
