St. Patrick (India) school sports coach, has been chosen to participate in the III Edition of the International Soccer Formation Course of the Real Madrid Foundation

Ashok Kumar Kasirajan, St. Patrick socio-sport school coach and coach´s coordinator of six other schools in Trichy (India), which are managed by Fundación Esperanza y Alegría along with the Real Madrid Foundation in India, has been selected to participate in the International Soccer Formation Course, organized by the Real Madrid Foundation between November 3 and 7.

Ashok has been selected for the accomplishments and merits he has reached with his students. Many other coaches from different parts of the world participated in this course as well, some came all the way from Angola, UK, Baréin and the United States.

The course was meant to advice coaches to implement the methodology called For a Real Education: Values and Sport. They also shared knowledge on how to develop new skills they could carry out in their respective schools and therefore improve their abilities.

The closing event took place on November 7 at the facilities of the Real Madrid Foundation. María Moreno, president of Fundación Esperanza y Alegría, along with part of the team, were present at the award ceremony to support his coach.

The project: Socio-sports schools

Fundación Esperanza y Alegría and the Real Madrid Foundation came together six years ago to work on Indian children´s rights. Today, both entities manage seven socio-sport schools that not only provide an integral character and complement the educational strategy of schools that host them, but are a mechanism to combat school dropouts and child labor among the most disadvantaged sectors of the population in the area in which they operate.

With the schools running, 700 boys and girls between 5 and 17 years old- most coming from low income families or members of the Dalit caste- are receiving an education based on morals that favor their personal development and their social integration through the practice of a sport.

The values that guide the socio-sport schools are respect, equality, companionship, autonomy, motivation, health, self-esteem, tolerance and solidarity. These schools have a very important social aspect that complements the social practice that materializes in the distribution of a nutritious snack after the training, school reinforcement classes, annual medical exams and other complementary activities such as, family gatherings.