School Girls Soccer Festival commences in Delhi

More than three hundred students from schools all over Delhi NCR turned up for the first ever soccer festival for girls at the Siri Fort Sports Complex on Tuesday. The Godrej Eon School Girls Soccer Festival, organised by the Moonlight Sports Foundation in association with Anglian Football – is being conducted to encourage girls to take up the sport of football and to reap the benefits of development through it.

“We want more girls to play football. Through my experience as a coach, I have seen that there is a lot of interest amongst girls as far as football is concerned but a lack of competitive tournaments or opportunities to showcase their skills. We are trying to change that through the festival”, said Bikram Thockchom – Festival Chairman.

Supporting this event is Godrej which continues in their endeavour to support development programmes. Godrej runs their energy conservation project aptly called ‘One Watt Project’ through which they hope to talk to the young girls participating in the festival. Speaking on the tie-up isRamesh Chembath, Associate Vice President, Marketing and Modern Trade, Godrej Appliances.

“We are delighted to be part of the novel girl’s football event. Our association with this event is part of Godrej Eon ‘One Watt’ school contact program through which we are trying to create consciousness amongst the children on the need for energy conservation. We are sure that this tournament will not just help us in taking One watt Project thought to the children of this 50 schools but also add a new leg of creating healthy and agile India through sports”, said Ramesh.

The soccer festival kicked off on Tuesday with inclusive football-centric activities conducted for all girls aged 5 – 19 years. It involved friendly matches between schools, various fun football events, workshops and soccer clinics to better acquaint the girls with the rules of the game.

Friday saw the kick-off of the championship league tournament. Schools like DPS Sector 45, DPS Sushantlok, Carmel Convent, Alcon School, Modern School, Barakhamba, Cequin – the NGO who have been given a special entry in this fest, Gyan Kunj, RSJMS and Shri Ram School were seen battling it out against each other on Friday.

The remainder of the event is scheduled to be held on three separate days - 8^th, 12^th and 15^th November.

At the end of the tournament, some of the best players will be selected to form a dream team which will then participate in football camps and friendly matches with teams from all over India. This development squad will also get the chance to play some tournaments abroad