Young Sarita Neupane and her three Nepal U-14 teammates Durga Khatri, Roshani Khatri and Shrisha Karki were the main talking points at the launch of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy’s (SC) fourth and final pitch launch in Nepal this month.
The pitch, launched as part of the SC’s Generation Amazing (GA) programme, is located in the lowlands of Fulbari in Kailali district. Neupane and her teammates, all of whom donned national colours at the recent AFC U-14 Girls Regional Championship (South and Central) in Tajikistan, call the region their home.
Yet only a couple of years ago, it seemed to Neupane that life in Kailali district was different altogether. Before GA rolled into her village, football had no place in her everyday routine, which included school and supporting her mother in household chores.
However, during the last two years, Neupane has found time to squeeze in a couple of hours of football practice in the evenings at GA community training sessions.
“I still remember the day when Generation Amazing was introduced to girls of my local Kailali community in 2014,” Neupane said.
“I finally had the opportunity to play football and realise my dreams. It was fun and exciting. My daily routine changed for good to accommodate football. GA head coaches have given us not just technical know-how, but also life skills such as leadership, communication and team work. We have also had the opportunity of participating in matches and tournaments on a regular basis, which has boosted our confidence.”
That the four GA participants made it to April’s AFC U-14 tournament in April in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe is a further testament to the enormous impact made by the GA programme for the girls of Kailali district including Dhangadhi which houses smaller GA satellite pitches to nurture emerging talent and expand life skills training through the sport.
The latest pitch opening in Nepal perfectly embodied the union of the three GA components – pitch, people and programmes. Managed by Right to Play and delivered in Nepal by Mercy Corp, the target groups of the three components are workers, schoolchildren and vulnerable youth from different local communities.
Keshav Bista of Nepal’s National Sports Council was the chief guest at the Kailali pitch launch. Also in attendance in the launch event hosted by local youth club Shiv Shakti Yuwa Batabaran Samuha (SSYBS) were CSR International Projects Manager Rosa D’Alessandro, representatives from Right to Play, Mercy Corps and Kailali District Sports Development Committee. More than 1000 local youth participated in the event.
“Sarita and other girls of the local community are very lucky to benefit from the GA programme. By infusing leadership qualities in them, it has helped to reduce gender-based discrimination through grassroots football,” said former Nepal goalkeeper Upendra Man Singh, who was in attendance at the launch of the third GA pitch in nearby Kaski district on 4 June.
Isabel Gultresa, Senior CSR Manager at SC, said: “We are delighted to be continuing our sustained work in Nepal with the pitch opening in the rural flatlands of Kailali district, an area of great importance to GA. The local community have come together to design, fundraise, own and operate this landmark facility. It is already being regarded as a significant regional pitch thanks to a combination of factors such as the inclusion of four girls from the region in the Nepal U-14 Girls national team in a prestigious AFC age-group competition.”
Mercy Corps Country Director Sanjay Karki said: “Sarita got international exposure at a very early age through GA. It will help to empower many other rural girls in the future. We think that these girls will help their families and communities bring about positive changes in their societies. To bring about social change, the girls also need the support of local youth clubs and organisations. Therefore our approach also places emphasis on capacity building of such local groups so that they can carry forward the GA programme independently.”
Nepal’s first two GA pitches, both in Makwanpur district, were opened on 28 April and 3 May.
The SC initiative has impacted the lives of more than 3,000 youth and children in Makwanpur, Kaski and Kailali districts through trained coaches and a total of six Ambassadors across Nepal. (SC.qa)
