Salaam Bombay Foundation’s “Fitness
Monitors” had the unique opportunity to interact with Mr. Rahane and receive
insights on his fitness journey
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Mumbai, August 4th, 2023: Salaam Bombay Foundation’s (SBF) Sports Academy organised a mentoring session with Indian cricketer Ajinkya Rahane for its ‘Fitness Monitors’ adolescent students studying in municipal or government aided schools, who are trained under the Academy’s Fitness Program and handpicked for their long term interest in fitness. The goal of the event was to inspire adolescents to adopt a lifestyle of fitness while becoming change agents within their communities. As part of the session, the students had the opportunity to interact with Mr. Rahane where they learned about his journey of fitness on his way to becoming one of India’s top cricketers. SBF also organised for Mr. Rahane and the students to engage in fun fitness activities which combined aspects of cricket, fitness and motor skill development.
SBF’s 100 hour-2
year Fitness Program has been designed to help underprivileged adolescents
maintain fitness levels while increasing their participation in various sports.
The program also provides a platform for adolescents to explore career
opportunities in fitness and other areas within the sports industry. SBF has gone one step ahead with the
“Fitizens Initiative” where enthusiastic students showcasing a motivation to
make an impact on their communities with a potential to pursue a career in
sports and fitness are selected as ‘Fitness Monitors’. These Fitness Monitors then advocate the
importance of fitness by mobilising and conducting sessions in the community
while also digitally tracking each community member’s fitness levels throughout
the sessions. SBF
provides students tablets for the digital tracking of fitness levels where
Fitness Monitors review and guide community members on their fitness levels. This also ensures that the adolescents are being updated with
technological skills relevant to the sports industry.
With the hope of contributing to the Indian Government’s ‘Fit India
Movement’ launched in August 2019 by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, SBF expanded the ‘Fitizens Initiative’
from slum lanes to Ganpati Pandals, Community Gardens, MCGM Bus Depots, Old Age
Homes and Corporate Offices. SBF and the
adolescent Fitness Monitors work together to identify target groups and also
customise fitness sessions based on age and fitness levels of the target group.
Every community member enrolled is taken through a cycle of 5 fitness sessions
including ‘Strengthen Your Everyday Movement’, ‘Fitness Anywhere and Anytime’,
and ‘Change Your Mindset to Change Your Lifestyle’ among others.
Mr. Ajinkya Rahane said, “Salaam Bombay
Foundation’s “Fitness Program” as well as the “Fitizens Initiative” is a great
way to promote fitness amongst underprivileged adolescents and their
communities. This unique format of appointing these adolescents as ambassadors
of good health will definitely have a catalytic impact on their lives. I
believe that every child studying in a municipal or government school must have
access to fitness programs like the one conducted by SBF, while encouraging
them to spread the spirit of good health, both for mind and body amongst their
communities. I am happy to have shared my principles of fitness and inspire
these bright and motivated students. They have promised to hold up the torch of
good health for their communities. I look forward to mentoring more young minds
at Salaam Bombay Foundation.”
Ms. Padmini Sekhsaria,
Founder, Salaam Bombay Foundation said, “We are honoured to have a
youth icon such as Ajinkya Rahane mentor our students and inspire them to reach
for the stars. We work with underprivileged adolescents from difficult
backgrounds, who have little or no access to physical activity and sports. At
Salaam Bombay Foundation, we believe that the playground can be an effective
tool to achieve a Healthy Body and Healthy
Mind. Our vision is to bring about an attitudinal change amongst these
adolescents through Sports and Fitness, motivating them towards staying in
school and completing their education. His presence on the ground will help
galvanise this section of the society, where lack of resources invariably leads
to disinterest in health and fitness. We hope Ajinkya will continue to conduct
more such inspiring sessions for our students. We commend his efforts and his
commitment towards creating a Fit India for future generations.”
Till date, the
Salaam Bombay Sports Academy has trained 2,200 students (1,050 or approximately
48% are girls) through the “Fitness Program” out of which 100 have been
selected as ‘Fitness Monitors’. In the last one year, more than 4,400 community
members across India have been trained by our adolescent ‘Fitness Monitors’
through the “Fitizens Program”.
About
Salaam Bombay Foundation:
A
CHILD IN SCHOOL HAS A FUTURE
Salaam
Bombay Foundation started in 2002 to work with 12- to 17-year-old adolescent
children growing up in Mumbai’s slums. These children live in extreme poverty
and in “at risk” environments. The municipal schools they go to do not have the
resources to give them individual attention, career guidance or access to
activities that stimulate the mind. Many are undernourished and face the
risk of substance abuse. They come from financially challenged homes and
are pressured to drop out of secondary school and seek jobs to support their
families. Given these ground realities, Salaam Bombay Foundation has harnessed
the ability of child-friendly, innovative education tools to develop life
skills and coping skills necessary to ensure that these adolescents develop
into well rounded personalities, able to meet the challenges they face and take
on leadership roles within their communities.
The
Foundation keeps children in school by empowering them to make the right
choices about their health, education and livelihood thereby ensuring that they
can thrive with a bright future. In-school leadership and advocacy programmes
equip "at-risk" adolescents with the life skills they need to lead
change. The Sports, Arts and Media academies encourage them to express
themselves and provide performance opportunities that build self-esteem. The
skills@school programme broadens their career horizons and empowers them with
vocational skills for sustainable careers. Through its DreamLab initiative,
SBF, has provided for a continuum of skills training and market-based
internships to youngsters in the age group of 14 and 18 years. Launched in July
2019, DreamLab, has been able to furnish stipend-based internships to 163
skills@school alumni across nine job sectors. DreamLab also creates a talent
pool of grassroot entrepreneurial adolescents. Salaam Bombay initiatives increase
confidence, give vulnerable adolescents the means to earn part-time and stay in
school, and provide the tools to explore their full potential.
For
more information, please visit www.salaambombay.org
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