Liz Ellis visits Goal

Liz Ellis, ex-captain of the Australian netball team, recently came out with a crew from Australia's Channel Ten to play with and learn from our Goal girls. Our girls got the chance to play with a netball legend in the process! Some pictures from the day:

More HIV Education in Mumbai!

A big thanks to our two SCB HIV Champions, Tarun and Anjaneya, who recently volunteered to run a HIV education session for the Asha Sadan Goal girls! The interactive and humorous session was a big hit with all the girls! Check out the photos below...

HIV Education Session in Mumbai

Just a couple of photos from our superstar volunteer (and SCB HIV Champion) Vimal, running an HIV education session for the Hamara Club Goal girls in Mumbai! For many of the girls, it was the first time they had ever seen a condom demonstration!

An Aussie Welcome!

Last week, Goal girls from Delhi were invited to the Australian High Commission for the launch of the Australian Sports Outreach Program in India, for which Goal is one of the partners. The girls were asked to put on a demonstration of their netball skills as an example of sports for development.

Here's a peek inside the launch. Watch out for special appearances from the Australian High Commissioner to India, and Australia's Sport Minister Mark Arbib (who is pretty fantastic at netball himself)!

More photos HERE!

Goal in India is still loving netball

Sadly India did not make it to the Netball finals at the Commonwealth Games.

However....

Our Goal girls in Delhi, India still love to play netball and their enthusiasm has definitely not been dampened!

This continual excitment for netball has been noticed by thestar.com.

Jaya Tiwari, a coordinator with the Naz Foundation (India) Trust says that Goal has changed these girls for the better:

“The level of confidence has increased a lot. The concept of ‘I’ has come into their lives. It was not there before. This is one hour at least they are just playing [netball] for themselves. They are not playing for us. They're playing because they want to play.”

Read more on this article on our Goal program in India.

IFNA Visits Goal!

Last week, Molly Rhone, President of IFNA, Urvasi Naidoo, CEO of IFNA, along with Kate Palmer, CEO of Netball Australia, took a day off from the Commonwealth Games to visit Goal! After lunch at the Naz office the team made their way to the Goal site at the Deepalaya school in Sanjay Colony.


The girls welcome Ms. Rhone and Ms. Palmer to Sanjay Colony

The girls of Sanjay Colony, together with new Goal Delhi Coach Pooja Rawat, had prepared a play showcasing the story of Goal for their visitors. The play started showed a Goal girls journey, from the challenges faced at home to finally growing and learning through the program and becoming a Goal champion.





After sharing some songs with the visitors, some of the Deepalaya teachers and parents offered to share their personal stories about how Goal has impacted their girls. It was fantastic to see so many community members and school faculty sharing together about how much Goal has helped their girls. After that, it was of course time for some netball! The girls played a quick match and then Ms. Rhone, Ms. Naidoo, and Ms. Palmer shared some chocolates, presents, and stories with the Goal participants.


A proud parent shares her own daughters' Goal story.




After goodbyes, the team made their way to the Jaitpur site to see a Goal league match between the girls of Aali Gaon and Jaitpur. In this "season" for Goal, the Aali Gaon girls and Jaitpur girls have battled it out on the court several times. For this final match, the entire Goal batch from Aali and Jaitpur gathered to cheer on their respective teams.





Matches were played between the old and new batches of Goal and it was a fantastic day for Aali as they managed to win both matches! The Jaitpur girls showed great sportsmanship and handed the winning side chocolates as a reward. Then, Ms. Rhone awarded Savita, a Center from Aali, the best player of the day.




The winners celebrate their 10-6 victory!

Molly Rhone hugs Savita, star player of the day

An added bonus - our visitors were fantastic enough to bring with them an official Commonwealth netball for the girls to use in their match!

Finally, sadly, the day had to end, and Ms. Rhone shared some inspiring thoughts with the girls before they finally had to leave. Ms. Rhone told the girls how once she was just like them, a young girl who loved netball and loved to play. With hard work and passion for the game, she was able to reach where she is today! The Goal team and the IFNA team exchanged presents, and as they say "Great minds think alike," both teams had prepared an almost identical photo collage for each other!

I think to sum up the day, this picture pretty much says it all:

You can see more pictures here.

IFNA visit to Goal - Delhi

Kate Palmer, Netball Australia CEO, Urvasi Naidoo, IFNA CEO and Molly Rhone, IFNA President took time out of their busy schedules during the Commonwealth Games to visit the Goal Programme in Delhi.

They visited the Deepalya site in Delhi where the girls had prepared a play and a song especially for the visit and the group then visited the Jaitpur site and watched a close match between two of the Delhi sites, Aali and Jaitpur. The President met with some of the Goal Champions and made a small speech and presentation to thank Goal National Co-Ordinator, Kalyani Subramanyam, for her dedication and hard work. Kalyani had travelled from Mumbai to Delhi especially to meet the IFNA delegation.

The President was moved to tears to see young girls and women playing netball in challenging circumstances. She promised to do her utmost to ensure more netball equipment is sent to Goal.

Also during the Commonwealth Games, Australia’s Sports Minister, Mark Arbib, launched a RS 200 million programme ($4.5 million US) aimed at developing sports facilities across India for disadvantaged children. The GOAL programme, was cited at the launch event as an example of how sport can make significant differences at the grass roots and some of the funding is therefore especially ear marked for the Goal Programme.

Finally, a group of over 50 lucky Goal girls from Delhi were given tickets to go and watch the Commonwealth Games netball competition and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of seeing top level international netballers in action.

Hooray - The Goal Programme is just going from strength to strength.

A week without violence

Violence is something which happens all around the world.

Did you know that this week is YWCA's Week without Violence?

The YWCA is global network of women leading social and economic change in 125 countries.

They believe that attitudes must change. Violence must be seen as unacceptable and something which must stop. This won't change unless people start having the confidence to intervene.

This week is about encouraging that confidence and that intervention... "Speak out in what you believe".

Read more on the Week without Violence.

A look inside Tughlaqabad Village

Last week, the camera hit Goal Delhi's site at Tughlakabad Village. Goal partners with ABHAS (Action Beyond Help and Support) to run the Goal program in the village. Kalyani Subramanyam, the National Co-ordinator for Goal India, visited the site last week to see first hand the 120 girls who come out for each Goal session.

Global Girls News: 4 October

Latest news in bite-size just for you!

• Commonwealth Games 2010: Today’s the first day of the Games! We’re excited about the netball here at Goal. There are 12 teams playing. Check out all the latest results here, and the netball schedule. We’re also excited to hear how our Goal Champion Deepali is doing. Her first match for India in the Commonwealth Games is 5 October at 17:00 India time…
  


• The value of women: There’s a great article describing the experiences of Nicholas D. Kristof, prize-winning columnist for The New York Times. He describes stories of girls and women who have changed their lives for the better. “Educating girls and empowering women… makes a huge difference in a community’s economy”. Read about a woman who started her own embroidery business with a US$65 loan. Her business is so successful, she is now hiring people in her village to help her.
  


• Bangladesh PM calls for empowering South Asian women: Sheikh Hasina has asked all leaders from South Asia to work together to help improve women’s empowerment and stop violence against women.

New photos from Delhi

Our Delhi Goal girls have been super busy the past couple months, and luckily, Rushika has been there to capture it all! See a few highlights below from the Goal Champions trip to the Commonwealth Games stadium, Indian Independence Day, and training.

Gulabsha Parveen - Goal Star

This is 14-year-old Gulabsha Parveen from Jaitpur, Delhi. Last month, in a coaching clinic with Dr. Bimla Pawar and Carmel Wright, she was awarded an Honorary Diamond by Carmel Wright, on behalf of Netball Australia for her passion and improvements in netball.

When asked to talk about the changes the Goal program has made in her life, Gulabsha smiles enthusiastically as usual. Youngest of 4 sisters, Gulabsha never thought she would be lucky enough as the boys in her school to get the chance to play a sport. Then last year, she heard stories about some girls from her “gaon” getting to play every week with each other and getting chances to play in national tournaments. She made her way over to the Goal Jaitpur site and stood outside the ground watching sessions, too afraid to enter.



The coaches and Goal staff noticed her constantly standing outside and finally persuaded her to come inside and join in the program. Her father, a labourer, and her mother, a tailor, motivated Gulabsha to join in the Goal program with her sister.

As they say, the rest is history! Gulabsha quickly picked up the game and shone across the court. From her very first session, rain or shine, Gulabsha has always been present excitedly awaiting that days’ lesson. Not only did Gulabsha excel at netball in no time at all, but the Goal staff says her enthusiasm for the game was truly infectious! The other girls watching her play always try to play better themselves, just because of the enthusiasm Gulabsha shows for playing and learning. After becoming an Honorary Diamond for Netball Australia, Gulabsha has become even more of a hero to all the other girls.

Not only has Gulabsha improved tremendously in netball in the short time she has participated with Goal so far, but the Goal staff have noticed immense growth in her as a person.

“Before she joined the program, Gulabsha would awkwardly stand outside the gates to our ground. She was too shy to ask to play with the other girls. Now, we have seen her become such a confident girl, serving as a role-model for all the others. She is always present, always enthusiastic, and has now started motivating the other girls around her. We have seen her grow into a self confident, strong leader!”
- Shashi Bharti, Program Officer- Goal Delhi

Gulabsha said of her experience with Goal:

“First I would come to the program and stand outside because I did not know anything about netball. I was very scared to play but then seeing all the girls play together and having the coaches tell me I can also play made me want to join also. I thought I would just come play one or two times and then go back home. But then I loved the game so much, I never wanted to stop playing! I kept practicing and I now have become so much better. I feel very proud at becoming good after working so hard.”

“I never thought I would get to see a Commonwealth stadium, but I also got to play a match in such a good stadium!! Carmel Maam also gave me a Honorary Diamond and told me she was very proud of how much I have improved. I could not even believe that she knew my name or was impressed by my game! After that experience, I feel maybe I can practice even harder and my love for netball can also become my career later. I am now inspired to study harder and play harder than before because I now feel like I can reach somewhere in my life.”