Tata Steel Foundation awarded for promoting Grassroots Football

Jamshedpur, Feb 20: Jamshedpur Football Club (JFC) in collaboration with Apollo Tyres conferred the �Go the Distance Hero� award on Tata Steel Foundation on February 19, 2020 as a mark of recognition of the Foundation�s commitment towards empowering the youth through grassroots sporting activities, in this case, football, across Tata Steel�s operational locations, Jharkhand and Odisha.

 The award was given by Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel, to Sourav Roy, Chief, Corporate Social Responsibility, Tata Steel for Tata Steel Foundation, at the start of the last home match between JFC and FC Goa.

 Tata Steel Foundation�s grassroots football programme, which was initiated in 2012, focusses on addressing the professional aspirations of youth and unlocking their potential towards soccer. What began with three centres, today has risen to 43 Football Rural Coaching Centres, imparting training to 3,555 girls and boys. Through its many tournaments, Tata Steel Foundation also reaches out to 36,000 youngsters annually.

In collaboration with Jamshedpur Football Club, Tata Steel Foundation, in the past, has provided technical support to coaches and has conducted training workshops for women coaches. In 2017, The Tata Kolhan Super League, a community football tournament geared towards the promotion of sports and development, attracted a total of 29,216 youth from 1,826 teams from across the Kolhan region.

On the occasion, Roy said, �It is of utmost importance to us that our communities are happy and healthy, and we believe that is something sports brings in abundance. The reason the Tata Steel Foundation grassroots football programme has run for so long is because people are realising their potential.�

Over the years, several of our sporting talents have found employment opportunities with academies including the Danapur Army Cantonment Academy in Patna (9), Five at the SAI Academy in Ranchi, two at the SAI Academy in Bokaro and three at the Football Academy at Chainpur, Gumla.