One of Generation Amazing’s India ambassadors is 22-year-old Pallavi Shyamsunder.
Last December with Qatar’s help she persuaded local leaders in Bengaluru to turn a derelict piece of land where people dumped their rubbish into a football pitch that local children could enjoy.
Now she works there every week with 150-200 children, organising practice sessions and arranging tournaments.
Speaking in Moscow before returning to Bengaluru she said: “Generation Amazing brings social change to our communities. It brings together organisations which develop life skills in the participants.
“ I am working with over 150 children in my community and when I go back to India I will take back my new skills and implement them with the children I work with.”
The daughter of a labourer, Pallavi became interested in football while still at school in Bengaluru and joined the Dream a Dream project, which helps young people from vulnerable backgrounds find their way in the world.
She left school at 17 and went to work for Dream a Dream full time.
This led to her travelling to Brazil in 2014 as part of Football for Hope during the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. There she learned about ‘football 3 methodology’, which helps youngsters develop themselves through soccer and fair play rules, with equal opportunities for boys and girls.
From there she got involved with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and Generation Amazing.
Pallavi, who now works for Dream a Dream as a football life skill facilitator, said: “When I was at school there was no playground for sports and football and I thought about that a lot when I left.
“Dream a Dream helped me build my confidence enough to go and talk with local leaders and private parties about building a pitch for the local children.
“There was a patch of land in where people used to dump their garbage and the local leaders gave permission to construct new ground.
“Throughout the year I conduct football sessions in my community working with young people to develop their life skills so they can live independent lives.”
To begin with Pallavi, who has four sisters, had to overcome her family’s doubts about her pursuing football. But they soon accepted that this is what she wanted to do.
Sadly her mother, Sundaramma, died two years ago and is not around to see her daughter’s good work.
But Pallavi says: “Her blessings are always with me and my father is a good man who encourages me to do everything.”