Finding a second chance

Salim* is a young soccer player. Despite the fact that Pakistan is a cricket loving country, Salim and his friend’s played soccer at every opportune time they found to do so. It was no surprise then that Salim got selected to play for the national team.

After his exposure to the national team, Salim, found himself surrounded by people who used drugs. Due to peer pressure, Salim started using drugs too that he lost his health and fitness in a short time. A couple of years later, Salim participated in a tournament where our football team was playing against his team. He saw that during the match our coach was encouraging his players.

He was this example of not shouting and misbehaving with his players that forced Salim to meet the coach after the match. At that time Salim shared about his life with our soccer coach and was invited to play for our soccer academy.

Salim joined the academy and was surprised at the brotherhood and discipline showed at the academy. He later was thankful to his coach who coached sports and life skills.

Our Pakistan sports team members are running 11 groups on 9 sports fields. Their teams are operating from 5 cities. They are using football, Cricket, beach Volleyball, and athletics for building relationships and sharing with the marginalised people. There are more than 150 players who are in contact with our 9 coaches.