Agents of change: How Abhinav Bindra and IOC aid underprivileged kids with sports and education

With the mercury touching 37 degrees, outdoor activities with school kids in sapping heat did not appear a very promising prospect. Yet, kids from an economically underprivileged background, smartly dressed in well-ironed school uniforms, lined up to welcome the delegation, which was led by Angelita Teo, Director of the Olympic Foundation of Culture and Heritage, and accompanied by Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra.

They were given a proper traditional welcome with flowers and conch shells. As they took their seats in front of the temporary stage, two students, a boy and a girl, walked up to the dais and welcomed everyone in perfect English. They were addressing a crowd of around 150 and mentioned what all they had planned for the day and how sport had made them more confident individuals.

It was followed by a mixed-team game of six-a-side (three girls, three boys) football. Two teams were pitted against each other with three players instructed not to go beyond the half line.

“Some of the boys can be better players at the moment but that’s not relevant here. We have stopped them from going beyond the half line because it will mean they have to pass the ball to their teammates to be able to score. That will help unite them as a team. Individual efforts don’t matter. And by passing on to their female counterparts, they will learn to respect each other more. Over a period of time, some girls have become as good if not better than the boys and are now leaders of their teams,” said a senior teacher of the school.

“I was apprehensive of playing football. I was told it was a game for boys only. And then one day I fell and injured myself. My parents were scared of what might happen to me. But my teachers and trainers encouraged me to keep going and now I love football. I am playing for a club and if It goes well, I want to play the sport professionally,” said one of the girls.

Bindra’s eyes lit up seeing the girl speak. From shooting for the Olympic gold to watching tribal kids playing football is quite a journey. “For me sport is about values, life lessons. Not about medals,” said Bindra, whose Abhinav Bindra Foundation is a partner in the IOC project in India. “Yes, the Olympic gold medal has its importance and it has helped me hugely but it is not something I wear around my neck everyday and it doesn’t define who I am. What sport has helped me do is make change. Sport has helped me change as well. In fact, it has shaped me as an individual and that’s why I am here. If sport can help change lives and make for better societies, I would say my 22 years in sport are of some significance,” he added.

By then the football had ended and the kids had made their way to the sand art, which had been prepared for the delegation. Again, it was done using the same principles of friendship, respect and excellence.

“What is striking here is how the teachers and students are working in perfect synergy using sporting values. That’s what Olympism and the Olympic movement is all about,” Teo said.

“If we can touch lives like this with sport, we will request Abhinav to take the programme to every corner of India,” she added.

In sport, you always fail in public. Even the great Sachin Tendulkar did so in the 2007 World Cup when he was out for a duck in the do-or-die game. He wanted to retire. Thankfully, he didn’t. He came back and helped India win the World Cup in 2011. And yes, in public, in front of millions. That’s why sport is unique. The only thing that allows you to fail in public and then come back and win in public.

That’s what Bindra and his team are trying to teach 1,50,000 young girls and boys in Odisha: how to deal with failure, how to lose and come back stronger, how not to lose hope and be invested in the process. The OVEP’s journey has just started in India. And within a year, it’s shown the promise to be a powerful tool of change.