Anantapur Sports Academy's 700 children celebrated AFC Grassroots Football Day

On the 12th and 13th of May, close to 700 children from the Anantapur Sports Academy (ASA) celebrated the Asian Football Federation (AFC) Grassroots Football Day at various locations across the district.
ASA is a multi-sports program, started in 2000 by Rural Development Trust (RDT), a non-profit organization, based out of Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. RDT believes that youth participation in sport is necessary for the growth and confidence of rural children.
Through ASA, it has been undertaking initiatives to promote and establish a sporting culture amongst rural youth. Currently, a total of 8,482 youth participate in regular and weekly sports activities, which comprises both of residential and non-residential programs.
ASA's aim has always been to enable the participation of underprivileged youth in sport and facilitate their growth and development not just as athletes but also as human beings.
The AFC Grassroots Football day is a concept that aligns with ASA's objectives of inclusion and participation. Grassroots football is about giving every child an opportunity to learn and develop. Football is for everyone, whatever their age, background, gender, religion or ethnicity.
The AFC grassroots football day was founded in 2013 and has been celebrated at the ASA for three years now. Starting in 2015, the festival has been a major success in Anantapur and this can be seen through the increased participation and involvement from volunteers and staff.
"If you see how it started in 2015, there has been a lot more involvement from the community since. We shouldn't only look at the increase in the number of children participating but also the capacity of our own Mandal coaches and volunteers to organise such an event at the Mandal level." said Sai Krishna Pulluru, the Director of ASA.
The increase in participation has been remarkable. The number of children participating has doubled over 3 years and there were nearly a 100 local volunteers and coaches this time around. Children from 17 different Mandals across the Anantapur district were invited to participate in the Festival. The event had been held at the Anantapur Sports Village for the last two years. However, in order to reach out to more children, the activities this year were spread out over two days and four different locations. Four of the academy's grassroots centers at Dharmavaram, Hindupur, Atmakur and Gooty hosted 210 girls and 485 boys for the grassroots festival 2018.

With a lot of parents and guardians in the audience, this event was designed to create awareness for ASA's football program and to encourage more children in the community to play the beautiful game.
The event kicked off on May 12 at ASA's Centres in Dharmavaram and Hindupur. As kids trickled in from various locations across the district, the local volunteers and coaches were busy setting up games and football drills.
The activities lasted for two hours at each Centre and included small-sided games, basic football drills and fun games such as the chain game and 'Dog and bone'. The children who participated were of different age groups and gender but they got along seamlessly. A similar event was held at both Atmakur and Gooty on the following day.
The Football Project Manager Dada Khalander agreed, saying, "The players really enjoyed the Grassroots Festival. Every child got to participate in all the activities and you could really see their engagement and interest"
A major positive that comes out of the Grassroots festival is that it provides children with a stage and an environment where they can express themselves and form new relationships and bonds. It helps them learn more about values that are of great importance both in sports and in life, such as teamwork, fair play and respect for others.
Watching children enjoy a fun-filled event such as this can also help parents and other members of communities realise the importance of sport and the beneficial role it can play in a child's life.
After another successful festival, ASA is focused on growing the outreach of their program even further. When asked about this, Grassroots coordinator Vamshi said "Next year, we aim to celebrate the AFC Grassroots Football Day at 10 Mandals. Our objective is to reach out to children who have not yet had the opportunity to play football. It is about engaging with different communities."