PANJIM:
Forca Goa Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Special Olympics Bharat at Don Bosco Conference Hall on 3rd August 2018. Under the terms of the MOU, Special Olympics Bharat will provide sensitization training to all the coaches from The Foundation and in turn the coaches will provide coaching assistance and support for activities and trainings conducted by Special Olympics Bharat.
The MOU signing was preceded by an orientation for all the Foundation’s coaches by Victor Vaz, National Director, Special Olympics Bharat. At the orientation, the coaches were taken through the history and achievements of the Special Olympics Bharat team. The coaches from the Foundations were also briefed on the challenges faced while coaching a team of special athletes and how to overcome them. Following the orientation, the coaches were taken to the Don Bosco Indoor ground and were given the opportunity to deliver a short training session for a group of special athletes from Goa.
Jill Ferguson, Managing Director, Forca Goa Foundation – “This MOU signing reaffirms our commitment towards inclusive football and giving all children the opportunity to play this game. With this partnership, we hope we can develop more talented athletes and bring awareness to the abilities of these special children.”
As part of the MOU and also to raise awareness about special athletes, players from FC Goa participated in an exhibition futsal match played by unified teams recently. The match saw FC Goa first team stars Laxmikant Kattimani, Pratesh Shirodkar, Lenny Rodrigues and Jonathan Cardozo play with special athletes in a thrilling game of futsal. The players later gave away the medals to the winners of the Special Olympics Unified Futsal Championship 2018.
Forca Goa Foundation firmly believes in inclusive football and has undertaken various initiatives under its #Football4All campaign to make football accessible to everybody. From helping organise the state’s first Blind Football game to this landmark MOU signing, the Foundation hopes that more children from Goa get the opportunity to showcase their talent regardless of their gender or ability.
