Mumbai: Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) was founded by Sir Dorabji Jamshedji Tata with the vision of developing children enthusiastic about sports so that they can become professionals and bring laurels for the nation.
MSSA organises tournaments like Harris Shield and Giles Shield in which many sporting legends have played in their school days. From Dilip Vengsarkar to Sachin Tendulkar and many more, the school tournaments have played a huge role in sculpting sportsmen.
To celebrate 125 wonderful years of MSSA, Handball Educational Workshop was organised where several National and International stars provided important insights about Handball to the youngsters.
The President of MSSA, Ft. Jude Rodrigues, welcomed all the esteemed dignitaries and Mr. Cyril D'Souza, Hon. Secretary Handball addressed the audience about how Handball is growing at a brisk pace in India.
Mr. Fredrick Anderson, Sweden Secretary General of the prestigious Partille Cup expressed his opinion on how important it is to organise school level tournaments in order to enhance the skills of talented children and expressed his desire to see more Indian Handball School teams participating in major school leagues in Europe.
Dr. Anandeshwar Pandey, Executive Director Handball Federation of India and Treasurer of Indian Olympic Association talked about the benefits of playing Handball. He described the game as a perfect enhancer of strength, stamina and endurance.
On being asked about the importance of grass-root development of the game and the inception of high profile leagues, the experts were of the opinion that both are necessary for the overall development of the game. Leagues play an important part in spreading awareness about the game and the school tournament helps in nurturing sportsmen from a young age.
Sakshi Mehta, Former National Handball Player, Mr. Pelin Radu, Handball Referee from Romania and other pioneers in the field of Handball shared their journey to inspire the youngsters. The infinite potential of the Indian youngsters and the short coming which hamper their growth were also discussed in details.
Celebrities like Pooja Dehal, Richa Pollad and Sheetal Sabharwal also shared their opinion about how important sports is in the overall development of the children and praised the wonderful work done by everyone at MSSA in popularising Handball in India.
