RDT, Laliga Foundation nurture skills among youth in football

Anantapur: The growing interest in football within the rural areas of India is evident and proof of this can be seen in the exponential growth of the number of participants in the project that the Vicente Ferrer Foundation through the Rural Development Trust (RDT) and Laliga Foundation, through its Women's Football department, have been developing for more than 5 years.

This alliance was established with the aim of promoting football among young people from the most disadvantaged communities in the district of Anantapur and establishing mechanisms and systems for the promotion of individual and collective talent at the national-level in India. Thanks to this joint initiative, around 2,000 boys and girls between the age group of 7-15 could practice sport and receive training.

Olga de la Fuente, Director of Foundation Laliga, and Pedro Malabia, Director of Laliga's Women's Football Department and Luz María Sanz, Director General of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation paid a visit to the Bathalapalli hospital along with programme director Manchu Ferror.

The Spanish delegation was able to spend time with girls participating in the project's Residential Academy, which was set up last season and through which 20 girls from rural communities in Anantapur have been selected to receive financial and educational scholarships for the year. One of the main strategic events of the week was the meeting with team from Anantapur Sports Academy and the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, with whom an analysis and evaluation of the impact of the activities developed jointly over the last five years, was carried out.

The trip was another opportunity to witness some of the training sessions involving the youngsters of participating clubs in Anantapur rural league as well as to enjoy the final phase of Mixed Gender Cup, a tournament based on the promotion of gender equality through football.

Olga de la Fuente, Director of Foundation Laliga, stated, "It is very gratifying to witness consolidation of sport as one of the main tools for youth development and social integration in this region."

Pedro Malabia, Director of Laliga's Women's Football Department, stated that she was pleasantly surprised by the number of girls benefiting from the project and the impact it has on their education.