New Delhi : Casio India Co Pvt Ltd has launched its ‘Sports for Change’ CSR program in collaboration with Sportz Village Foundation, aimed at supporting and empowering underprivileged children in the Delhi-NCR region.
This initiative will focus on a cluster of 20 government schools in Noida, affiliated with the UP State Board, to promote sports and provide training for disadvantaged youth. The project will be executed in two phases: a Baseline Assessment and a Sports Excellence Program. The Baseline Assessment will concentrate on health, well-being, and sports mapping, while the Sports Excellence Program will involve targeted training at four schools designated as ‘Sports Development Centres.’
The inaugural event for the ‘Sports for Change’ program took place recently at Rajkiya Inter College in Noida.
To effectively implement this initiative, Casio and Sportz Village Foundation conducted comprehensive surveys involving students, parents, and teachers from multiple government schools in Noida. These surveys helped identify students’ interests, preferences, and the challenges schools face in providing adequate sports facilities. The ‘Sports for Change’ program aims to nurture the physical and mental well-being of underprivileged children while fostering a culture of sportsmanship, camaraderie, and perseverance. It also seeks to enhance sports infrastructure, including the development of playgrounds and courts, creating a safe and structured environment for sports education.
Akira Watanabe, Director of Casio India, expressed the company’s commitment: “At Casio, our creed is creativity and contribution, and the ‘Sports for Change’ initiative embodies this belief. Through the program, we empower young minds to not just participate in sports, but to thrive. By establishing structured activities both inside and outside of school, we create pathways to sports excellence. Our high-performance centers are designed to nurture talent and foster creativity, camaraderie, and sportsmanship among students. We are dedicated to empowering both girls and boys, ensuring that every child, regardless of background or gender, has the opportunity to excel in sports. Partnering with Sportz Village Foundation, we aim to bring about meaningful, positive changes in the lives of students, helping them pursue their passion for sports while enhancing their overall well-being.”
Over the coming year, the ‘Sports for Change’ initiative will impact approximately 4,000 children across the 20 UP Government Schools by integrating a sports curriculum into their regular schedules, emphasizing holistic development. Students will be assessed for their physical capabilities to identify sport-specific talents, with the top 200 selected for an after-school advanced training program at the four Sports Development Centres (SDCs). This structure ensures that all children benefit from the baseline program, while the most talented receive resources to excel and compete on larger platforms.
