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Joyous June

Happiness is being courageous in that one moment

Nageshwar selected for Minerva Academy FC|CC

Happiness is being courageous in that one moment. A moment that defines the path for not just one individual but for generations to come. When we started working with the children of tribal communities, we wanted to excel in education and we wanted to do contextual education. So, when we started to work in football, many couldn’t relate to the concept. Many told us not to work in sports in an area where malnutrition is rife.

But we knew something. Today at Mrida, we are so proud that we took that courageous step to see our dreams manifest into reality.

Nageshwar Dhurvey, our very own child who had joined us in 2016 as a 6 year old chirpy lad, kicking around, got  selected for one of the top football academies/clubs of the country, Minerva Academy FC|CC. Now, nothing short of a blue jersey can be his next step. It is not just about Nageshwar – it is about how this will lead to many others believing in themselves.

Selected for Nationals Football Camp.

Antara Dhurvey, an NVFA Footballer, was in Mumbai for the Western India Football Association (WIFA) – organized national camp for the U-17 girls team.She is one of our first batch of girls who has been with Narmada Valley Football Academy for the past 6 years. 17-year-old Antra was noticed by the WIFA when she played for the Ratnagiri district team in the inter-district tournament held in Nasik in May 2022. A total of 42 girls were selected and Antra made it to the top 30.

Travel Tales

Earlier this month, five of our  NVFA boys attended the ATK Mohun Bagan FC trials in Kolkata. These boys will also be attending the Bengaluru FC trials in the first week of July. The results of which are awaited.
  • U15 – Krishna Yadav
  • U15 – Ajeet Khorche
  • U13 – Arpit Khorche
  • U18 – Pramod Vate
  • U18 – Kushlesh Chicham

    • What's Next!??

    Paving the path usually is the most difficult step. But now that a trail is created, we need to build the road wide enough for others to follow. This also now puts additional responsibility on us to support all our talented children as each one of them is putting their best foot forward.

    Upcoming Plans

    We are approaching the top football clubs in the country like Gokulam Women’s Team, Bengaluru FC, Mohun Bagan FC, United Sports FC and international clubs like Rangers FC and sending our players for trials or scouting camps.

    Building a Home

    Creating and nurturing national-level players from a belt that suffers from malnutrition, and lack of medical and training facilities is daunting and this is where we need your support. We are now also in the process of creating infrastructure which will accommodate the students and address the requirements of training players like Nageshwar & Antra. We have acquired 4 acres of land in Mandla district to build a campus with hostels and sports facilities for 300 tribal children. The land mapping for the plot is done. We have an estimate of Rs.4 crore towards building building the first phase of the campus.

    Looking forward

    We had the District Collector for Mandla, I.A.S, Harshika Singh visit NVFA players during their practice sessions in Mandla as they prepared for the esteemed Subroto Cup.

    While few of our children like Nageshwar and Antra are exploring new avenues, back at home the U17 girls, U14  and U17 boys teams are preparing to participate in the historic Subroto Cup. 

    Subroto Cup Football Tournament is a prestigious international inter-school football tournament that is held annually in New Delhi, India. Named after the Indian Air Force Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, it is an annual event that began in 1960. It is one of the more notable school level football tournaments in Asia, attracting students from different countries.

    Mrida Scouting Process | 45 Children Enrolled.

    The focus this time is to adopt 4-6 year old children as they are more prone to malnutrition and loss of education due to their migrating parents. The pandemic restrictions are lifted in most parts of the country and thus the laborer and tribal communities have started migrating again, leaving their children with their grandparents or taking them with them. Either way, the children of migrant workers suffer. Mrida’s scouting process is filtered and focused to accommodate the children of these migrant workers. The sole intention is to keep the children safe from malnutrition, excess labor work, and learning loss.

    One of the most important events of the year for us is also our annual scouting process that usually goes on for more than 3 months.

    For the process we surveyed more than 200+ families across 20+ villages in 2 districts. Enrolled the neediest. The process involved checking the physical abilities of the children along with intellectuals and background checks ensuring only the vulnerable children got into the program.

    We came across children where some had lost their parents, some lived with their grandparents and some had been abandoned. There was an instance where we came to know about three siblings, all girls. The eldest was 9 years and the other two 7 and 6 respectively and they lived alone with their uncle who could not even provide daily meals . We admitted all three.

    CEL Hackathon

    <If> You know Java/Python, <Then> come teach our aspiring coders.
    The batch of students who won the CEL Hackathon using Scratch and Pocket Code is now graduating to Python Language. If you belong to the information technology sector then we would urge you to support us in providing these budding coders with weekend workshops and share your experience with them so that they understand the career pathways in the industry.

    Nurturing Excellence

    Our dream has always been to bring excellence to the rural belts of India. The last couple of months have been exhilarating and fruitful. But now we are touching new horizons, taking risks and exploring new avenues because every child with Mrida deserves a real chance for a better future. This is only possible if we are able to create the infrastructure that can support sports coaching and academic teaching. We cannot achieve this feat without your support.
    Mrida has always operated from rented spaces but now it is time to build a place which these children can call their home. If you wish to discuss this further then please write back to us, we will be happy to speak to you.

    Until next time. Take care.
    Priya Nadkarni & Digvijay Singh
    Founders – Mrida

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