An 11th grader’s initiative provided an opportunity to the underprivileged girls from across Mumbai to spend a day on the turf. Around 130 girls from municipal schools of Mumbai participated in the football tournament organised by Iraa Cares.
Iraa Gupta, Empowering Underprivileged Girls Through Sports
Iraa Gupta, a Class 11 student of the Cathedral and John Connon School, who has been playing football since the age of 12, had organised a football tournament for the underprivileged girl students of Mumbai under her social initiative ‘Iraa Cares’- which aims to provide a platform to underprivileged kids to follow their dreams in sports.
Through Iraa Cares, Gupta tries to make underprivileged kids connected with sports by organising shoe-donation drives for the kids and other similar activities. As an attempt to bring the girl students closer to her favourite sport, Gupta organised a one-day football tournament for the girls from government schools and non-government organisations.
“By playing football, I have learnt the lessons of leadership and teamwork, and I think that all the children should learn these lessons but for that they need the privilege of facilities to play this sport. I think that girls are generally overlooked when it comes to sports and are obviously under-represented in this field, therefore I decided to organise a tournament especially for the girls,” said Gupta.
Iraa Cares Football Tournament Delights Underprivileged Girls, Inspires Future Participation
Organising a football tournament under Iraa Cares for the first time ever, 130 school girls teamed up to form seven teams in under-12 and six teams in under-14 category at the Cooperage Ground near Nariman Point. The students were provided with team jerseys by Gupta and the winners also received prizes for their performance. “A one-day football match is surely not going to change their life but at least it will make their day better,” Gupta added.
“We felt so happy as for the first time we played on such a huge ground covered with grass. We hope that such a tournament is organised again and again, and we can participate each time,” one of the participants said.
Iraa Gupta Plans Second Shoe-Donation Drive After Successful Initiative
Seeing most of the girls playing football wearing school shoes, Gupta has planned to launch her second shoe-donation drive. Earlier, Gupta had collaborated with an NGO and organised a shoe-donation drive which received around 800 pairs of shoes, which were then donated to needy kids in Mumbai as well as Palghar.
