South United has always focused on women’s football equally and has made evident their intent to create the same opportunities for women to discover the sport and train professionally.
Since its inception, South United has partnered with various schools and institutions where all kinds of training programmes are offered. Programmes have been conducted for women from the ages of 3 to 30 years at multiple centres.
From women-centric to mixed batches and from individual to team training, South United ensures that all women have the chance to pursue the sport, even at a recreational level.
One such project is the BPM High School Project in Mumbai, where an equal number of boys and girls are given professional training by South United. The schools’ students are from underprivileged backgrounds with limited exposure to sports. Assessing the children on their existing skill sets, their ability to play as a team, and their knowledge of the game, 100 girls, from ages 6 to 16, are selected to be a part of the venture.
Sharan Parikh, Director of South United said, “The objective of the project is to engage the community, creating a working model of the sustainable sporting ecosystem that we envision. The objective, by nature, intends to keep a balance between both girls and boys, because we believe in a girl’s potential to succeed as an athlete as well. Quite a few of the girls in the programme have never got the opportunity to play a sport, and this could prove to be a promising platform for some of them to recognize their place in professional sport”.
This equality has been seen not only amongst the students who are being trained but also amongst the coaches, having hired multiple female coaches, including Former Indian Women’s National Football Team player, Paromita Sit.
In order to be all-inclusive, South United has also engaged in other sports like Athletics and Basketball to give young girls an understanding of sports. Its coaches have even been sent to train multiple semi-professional Women’s Football Teams for short periods during a season.
Having understood the importance of equality in Sport, South United continues in its endeavour to make the sport easily accessible not only to people from all backgrounds but also from different genders, while helping them realise their full potential.
