CPSFI and IFCPF team up to discuss CP Football (female)

Last week key members from CPSFI, AIFF & IFCPF met via webinar to discuss introducing CP Football (female) across India as the country celebrated National Girl Child day.

Over 50 participants across the Cerebral Palsy Sports Federation of India (CPSFI), All India Football Federation (AIFF) and International Federation of CP Football (IFCPF) met over zoom to discuss CP Football (female) and the future devlopment across India. In depth discussions were had over how CP football (female) could be kick-started with guest speakers across both organisations sharing experiences and ideas.

When asked about the event Kavita Suresh, General Secretary & CEO CPSFI explained; 

"The webinar was to commemorate the National Girl Child Day 2021 which is celebrated on the 24th of January every year, in India. A series of events had been organised the whole of this week to bring awareness around gender equality.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the nation to ensure that every girl in the country "leads a life of dignity and opportunity.

13th Sangiti, an initiative in association with IFCPF & AIFF was our effort to give opportunity to our #deshkibeti (daughter of the country) to take up sports and help her walk the path to success."

Speaking about what she learnt from today's event; 

"The webinar will help us introduce CP Football (female) in India. A lot of our members who were on the program and many of them who have viewed the video on social media are today aware of the sport and have reached out assuring that they would help us promote the sport."

The future looks bright for CP Football (female) in India with some real aspirations coming out of the webinar; 

"India is a large country and camps in every district is a way forward to build awareness, recruit and train the girls. CPSFI has started working on building a National CP Football (female) team. We hope to hold a Development Camp for CP Football (female) parallel to our National CP Football Championship 2020 which was postponed due to the pandemic and is due to be conducted in 2021."

Kavita also expressed the importance of the partnership with IFCPF in achieving their ambitions around CP Footaball (Female).

"CPSFI looks forward to the support of IFCPF in our endeavours to promote CP Football (male & female) in India and the South Asian region as well. Also we look forward to support from AFC to enable us to build a hub in South Asia for CP football in near future."
 

Gabriella Van Driel, IFCPF Chair CP Football (female) Development Group, has been a key figure in the female game and it's development within CP Football. She was delighted to be a part of the event, and inspired by India's ambitions for CP Football (female).

"For me, the CP Football (female) journey started with and for my friend Luzdary. She needs to live with the consequences of her brain tumor surgery every day and that has inspired me to create more (equal) football opportunities for her. Now that countries such as India are becoming part of this community makes me feel very gratefull and gives me hope for an amazing football future. To meet likeminded, passionate people during the webinar makes me feel empowered to continue this journey together" 

She also praised the association for it's hard work thus far;

"CPSFI is doing an amazing job already by focussing on CP sport opportunities in the country in a very professional way. I would like to encourage them to keep developing CP Football (female) step by step, because all the little things we do, will at the end create an environment where players and coaches feel safe and welcome. That could be a basis for many inspirational stories and for lots of female athletes participating in worldwide events in the future."

Gabriella also explained the importance of the expansion of CP Football (female) globally;

"The more organizations are participating in CP Football (female events), the more players in the world can compete against and learn from each other. In this stage of early development of the female game every country that can add a female team to an event is giving a major boost to the worldwide development. Together we are setting examples and showcasing opportunities, where many other organisations can learn and benefit from!"

For more information on CP Football (Female) contact: info@ifcpf.com