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Goaar Youth won the Real Heroes Award for using football to spread education in his slum neighbourhood through his Oscar Club in Mumbai
Ashok Rathod with Aamir Khan at Real Heroes Award Ceremony.
INDIA and Mumbai have yet another Oscar winner in Ashok Rathod (20), a resident of the Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar slums in Colaba, Cuffe Parade, who won the Real Heroes Award instituted by CNN-IBN, in partnership with Reliance Industries Ltd. Rathod, who won in an inspiration to the 100 odd youngsters in his neighborhood.
He began the Oscar Club in Colaba in 2006 which primarily coaches members in football and rugby, as an outlet for teens in difficult circumstances. Rathod says it was with a strong urge to change the world that he started the club. “I was lucky that I could attend school and meet people who changed my life, and the life of others in the slums where I grew up,” said Rathod. It was in school and chance encounter with a non-government organization that helped Rathod fine-tune his skills in not just playing football, but also rugby and that art of mentoring slum youth.
Real Hero: Nita Ambani and Aamir Khan Felicitated Ashok Rathod (Black Shirt) during the award ceremony, which was held at Hotel Trident, Mumbai.
Rathod says his most painful experience has been watching his friends fall prey to drugs and gambling. “This sparked off urge to make life different. I began training children to play football over the weekend after making them promise that they would have to attend informal reading, writing and arithmetic classes for free thrice a week," Rathod adds. “ Our condition is that if you want to play, you have to study. You need not be a good player. We are now working on ways to convince conservative slum-dwellers to send their girls to school,” he says.
Rathod was among 24 Real Heroes who were given the award and a cash prize of Rs. 5 Lakh each. "He have given us new purpose in life. He is our hero,” says Shankar Rathod ( President Banjara Youth Welfare Society) and whose friends Govind and Maruti practiced football and rugby as a team members with him at the Oval Maidan (Churchgate).
Contact : Ashok Rathod
Phone No. : 99672 18287
Email Id : oscarashok@gmail.com
Sent us by: SHANKAR RATHOD, President, Banjara Youth Welfare Society, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai.
Posted on July 5, 2009--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
