Shubham, who hails from Bokhara, a small village near Nagpur, has fought poverty from the very beginning of his life. His mother was the only bread winner at home working as a domestic help. His father constantly battled drinking problems, root cause to his many health issues.
These problems dogged Shubham constantly causing a worrisome and aloof childhood. As a consequence, he chose not to pursue his education, instead began working in a shop as a help. However, he was not enjoying the work. It was during this time that one of his cousins told him about football sessions, run by Slum Soccer in his community. Shubham had always loved football from his childhood and decided to join. He started attending the sessions regularly. And this became the turning point in his life. The way Shubham puts it “the reason I came every single day to play football was because it helped me forget about all the problems back home completely. It also gave me mental peace and hope.”
This is when he realised his true potential and he decided to give back a similar sense of identity & direction to his community and the children facing similar problems in their lives. So he became one of the candidates for the first ever Game Changers training program supported by Sony Pictures Networks India. Post this program he emerged as a strong youth leader in his community.
At the moment he, along with his friends, regularly provides community service by teaching the children football and life skills. This endeavour and determination led him to represent India at the Homeless World Cup 2016, held in Glasgow. This further boosted Shubham’s confidence as well as skill sets and he went on to expand his football for development programs by enrolling his friends to become potential leaders and coaches.
All these activities, made him eligible to apply for Generation Amazing Leadership Training. Many candidates from various countries had applied for this opportunity and Shubham emerged as one of the few candidates selected based on the strength of his past activities as well as future intent. The training will be held in Qatar and further he will travel to Russia to watch the world cup which has always been a dream of his life!!!
Slum Soccer 