New Delhi, Feb 14 (IANS) IPL 2022 champions Gujarat Titans concluded the third edition of its Junior Titans programme in Ahmedabad on Saturday, with participation from over 5,100 children representing more than 100 government and private schools from five cities.

The initiative reached cities like Surendranagar, Morbi, Amreli, Anand and Ahmedabad, with an aim to encourage physical activity among children under 14 through non-competitive sessions and interactive games. Colonel Arvinder Singh, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Gujarat Titans, said the programme’s success was measured not in numbers but in its ability to motivate children to embrace sports.

“The success of any program lies in the eyes of the children who participate in this program. I can tell you, today we’re going to end in a couple of hours, we will finish with the last edition of the Junior Titans of the year. Sometime back, somebody was asking me, how do you measure success in this? This is not about measuring success.

“This is about motivating children and creating something for them where they can say that, yes, I participated in this. I do want to play sport, not just necessarily cricket. So that is how we at Gujarat Titans look at it,” Singh told IANS in a virtual interaction.

He also said the franchise’s credibility helped attract participation, particularly in smaller cities where children had fewer opportunities to engage with professional sporting organisations.

“Being Gujarat Titans brings a lot of credibility and that’s why children listen to us, and want to align with us. That’s understandable, but by so doing, we are just trying to reach out to children and motivate them to play sport and that’s what we are doing,” he added.

With the philosophy of ‘Let’s Sport Out!’ and focus on building confidence and teamwork through sports, Singh further stated the franchise maintained identical standards of organising the event across all cities, regardless of their size or infrastructure.

“From an organizational perspective, there is no difference in an event which is being conducted in, let’s say, Vadodara to what happens in, let’s say, Morbi. No difference whatsoever. The event is curated exactly the same way as it would happen in a tier-one city vis-a-vis a tier-three city or a tier-two city. No difference whatsoever and we are very clear on that.

“The major difference comes in because in these tier-one cities, the children get an opportunity to know more about certain things as compared to the smaller cities. It’s because the smaller cities, they don’t expect an IPL franchise to be around there in the smaller cities and are creating something specifically for students from that city without any ulterior kind of motives,” he added.

He signed off by saying the response in smaller cities was particularly encouraging as children there had less access to quality sporting facilities compared to their counterparts in larger urban centres.

“So it is very, very heartening to see, especially in the smaller cities. In the bigger cities, because of the infrastructure and the facilities available, you still have children who have access to better facilities. In these smaller cities, that’s not the case.

“When we go and do exactly the same event, what is happening today in Ahmedabad was happening last week in Anand, exactly the same, no difference whatsoever and so that’s how we look at it.”

–IANS

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