Our story past, present and future...
The Past
The story of cricket4kidsIndia started back in 2014 when Goutam Naithani met Luke Serong, President of Cricket4Kids Australia at Bangladesh during the ICC T20 Cricket world Cup 2014 and was inspired by Luke’s contribution for cricket to the world. Before departing Bangladesh, Goutam knew that it was much more needed to be done in establishing Cricket4KidsIndia and giving an opportunity to every individual to play cricket back at home in India.
With this in mind, he set out to begin an organisation that would deliver preloved sporting equipment to underprivileged schools, sports clubs and individuals. It was hoped that providing access to sports these children could develop through fundamental childhood experiences common to children regardless of any circumstance. Cricket4kidsIndia was incorporated in September 2015 as an affiliated Organisation to Cricket4Kids Australia and will work towards the key objective of distributing preloved sporting equipment to the communities in need to India and abroad.
The Present
The global sports sector is estimated to be worth USD 480–620 billion, however in India sport is yet to be recognised as a sector and there is no comprehensive study on the industry’s estimated size in the country. A thriving sports sector usually has significant socio-economic impact, as it is instrumental in improving the physical health and mental agility of a nation’s human resources, and in promoting unity and national pride. In fact, sport as an industry contributes to about one to five per cent to the GDPs of various countries.
On the face of it, sporting equipment may seem low of the list of priorities for people in the developing world. Development often focuses on the large and important themes of education, water etc. With such work it can be easy to overlook the simple pleasures and loves of local populations such as sport. Sport represents an important social space in society. Sport is an important rite of passage in physical and psychological development for boys and girls throughout the world. Distribution of preloved cricket equipment from cricket4kidsindia fills this void and allows children access to playing cricket.
The Future
In the coming years we hope to add more support and establish more offices in various states within India to send preloved equipment for distribution. Within the next three years we expect to expand our delivery horizons to rural and indigenous communities within India and abroad to fulfil the right of more children to form such wonderful memories.
