SCF gets Rockefeller honour

The city-based multipurpose Sports Coaching Foundation (SCF) has won a rare recognition for an NGO that is dedicated exclusively to sports. It is one among four to be conferred the coveted ‘India NGO Award’ for the year. It is the only sports NGO in the latest roll of honours.

“What makes this a very special one is that it has been instituted jointly by the New York-based Rockefeller Foundation, the London-based Resource Alliance and the Mumbai-headquartered EdelGive Foundation,” said a beaming K Sai Baba, the Foundation’s founder-Secretary late Friday evening.

Stating that this would mark a major milestone in their history, he said that the recognition would instill a new zeal among all those associated with the Foundation whereby they would aim to further their spread and ensure that they reach as many youngsters as possible in the days ahead.

SCF, which completes its silver jubilee next year, has been in the forefront of promoting the prevalence of a sports culture, particularly among youngsters belonging to the economically backward sections of the society.

“Although, we have been able to groom a good number of talents, the satisfaction was more pronounced when three of our products, woman cricketer Archana Das and footballers Simar Preet Singh and Mohd Tariq were picked for the national teams,” pointed out Sai Baba, a former Ranji cricketer himself.

According to Sudden Deshmukh, the Foundation Administrator, the focus was on taking the Build India Through Sports (BITS) to newer regions. Having accomplished substantial results in the two Telugu speaking States apart from Maharashtra and Karnataka, they hope to enter other States. New Delhi, where a BITS pilot run received impressive response when the team received the award, has been quite encouraging, he quipped.

In monetary terms the Rockefeller recognition may be nothing but the credibility of the honour would give a solid boost to the Foundation’s resume, which, perhaps, may awaken the philanthropists to come forward with assistance in one form or the other. The end gainer is, of course, the talented young sportsperson.