Day at the Gof Tournament at Stoneybridge Golf Club in Coventry, Cricket Tournament at University of Leicester and Sports Day at Warwick University, Coventry
two years. We decided to host the Sports Day back in early September following feedback from the branches; however the numbers still continued to fall. This has to be second year on the trot where there was only 1 Junior Football team submitted from across the UK, which was extremely disappointing. Normally this category along with the seniors tended to be the pinnacle finale of any Sports Day. However, as noticed this has changed over the recent years.
We want to ask you as the wider Community, what can we do to encourage our Youth to come and take part. We ask that parents encourage their young children to come to Samaj events, whether it is at branch level or HQ. Learn about our culture and
“... This is an ideal opportunity to host regional events such as darts or football. It has proven to be a success throughout the Midlands over the past 2 years...’’ heritage. If we are not careful, in a few years there will be no Sports Day / Youth events etc. I ask the younger parents to think back to their youth and remember how much fun we used to have going to SPA Sports Day. It was the one event in the year we all used to black out in our diaries and prepare for. Over the past few years this has really demised. The most noticeable has been at the Football event where normally we would have massive crowds gathered, cheering on their own branch( or the one which they wanted to win).
As a Youth Team we are open to suggestions and are willing to listen to what you have to say. So please feel free to contact any of us( Divyen, Hiren Mahendrabhai or myself) with any suggestions of ideas which you feel will help revive our Youth events and overall our Samaj. Remember that each branch has a Youth Leader; please support them in making each event successful whether it is locally or nationally.
I would like to take this opportunity to say a very big THANK YOU to my three assistants, Divyen, Hiren and Mahendrabhai, who have organised and run all of the events this year, dedicating an incredible amount of their own personal time to
these events. Thank you guys for all the support!
The start of a new year is a really good time to reflect and think about the Youth Team’ s achievements over the last year and where we really want to take the Youth Team next year. The key for us again this year is to continue to increase participation nationally and at a local level. However at each branch level we are not alone. Majority of our branches are located close to another. We would like to see more interaction between the youth members across branches. This is an ideal opportunity to host regional events for our members such as darts or football competitions. It has proven to be a success throughout the Midlands over the past 2 years. This is a great way to bring people together and make it a memorable day. It is only by building our network locally can we increase participation at our larger national events.
On behalf of the SPA( UK) Youth Team, we’ d like to wish you and your families a very Happy Diwali and the very best in the New Year.
Nikhil K Mistry Youth Leader, SPA( UK) 2016-2017
vol. 41 | Prajapati Sandesh 2016 17