Football Delhi to launch a Mental Health Campaign “Mind Goals” on May 29  

we, at Football Delhi are concerned about the impact of this situation on the mental health of our football fraternity. Referees, players, coaches, officials, administrators, fans are missing the action on field, and are not able to utilise their talents fully, as they sit out at home. This has propelled a sense of frustration and helplessness. We, at Football Delhi are committed to address and tackle these challenges of our people! we are launching “Mind Goals” as an effort to facilitate the mental well-being and motivation of our people in our football fraternity and impart them with a sense of hope. We would like to express our gratitude and thanks to all our expert partners and individual contributors for helping us to initiate this important campaign at these difficult times. Special thanks to Mr. Loknath, MD Reech Sports (UK) for extending exceptional support.

– Shaji Prabhakaran, President Football Delhi

Khel Today Bureau

NEW DELHI: Football Delhi, the governing body of football in Delhi is launching Mental Health Campaign, “MIND GOALS” from 29th May which would continue till 15th August 2021.

Since the pandemic outbreak, many people are facing serious mental health challenges. Along with the physical health impacts of the COVID-19, it has pushed people into – self and social isolation, disconnection from family and friends, quarantine, and lockdowns on movement thus, leading to an unprecedented situation. Undoubtedly, this alarming situation has taken a toll on mental health of our people and trigger experiences/feelings of helplessness, isolation, grief, anxiety, depression, and overall stress related challenges resulting in exponentially increased demand for health support services.

Mr. Shaji Prabhakaran, President Football Delhi stated, “we, at Football Delhi are concerned about the impact of this situation on the mental health of our football fraternity. Referees, players, coaches, officials, administrators, fans are missing the action on field, and are not able to utilise their talents fully, as they sit out at home. This has propelled a sense of frustration and helplessness. We, at Football Delhi are committed to address and tackle these challenges of our people”!

He added, “we are launching “Mind Goals” as an effort to facilitate the mental well-being and motivation of our people in our football fraternity and impart them with a sense of hope. We would like to express our gratitude and thanks to all our expert partners and individual contributors for helping us to initiate this important campaign at these difficult times. Special thanks to Mr. Loknath, MD Reech Sports (UK) for extending exceptional support”.

Football Delhi wish to achieve this, with the help of Mental Health Experts, who can empower and uplift our community through a Series of Expert Talks.

The main objectives of Goal Minds campaign are:
●        Creating awareness among our football fraternity about Mental Health, Mental Well-Being
●        Breaking barriers in their mind to promote health seeking behaviour
●        Motivating them and uplifting their spirits to enable sense of hope for their future and careers.
●        Educating them about coping mechanisms of Mental health issues and provide real life relatable examples (Case Studies) of people who have recovered from mental health challenges/ issues.
●        Encouraging constructive mindset

Registration for participation will be open from 26th May till 14th August 2021.

Our Expert Partners and Individual Contributors are:

1.       Discovery Sport & Performance Lab (UK)
2.       Simply Sport Foundation (India)
3.       Reech Sports (UK)
4.       Gazing (UK)
5.       Poddar Foundation (India)
6.       MindFirst Performance (India)
7.       Win Within (India)
8.       Mr. Vijay Lokpally, Senior Sports Journalist
9.       Ms Suchithra Varadarajan (Germany), Mental Health Researcher and Specialist in Biopsychology of Stress
Enclosed: Mind Goals Logo
Brief on partners’ profile:

1.       Reech Sports Ltd (RSL), UK based Sports Infrastructure Design and Development and a Business Management company that specialises in the design, 
development and business management of sports facilities. They been working with a number of community trusts and foundations to help develop and install bespoke Multi Use Sports Areas (MUSA), which cater to the wider community including those with disabilities.

2.       Simply Sport Foundation
It was founded in 2020 in Bangalore. We believe sports can be an effective tool for the development of the nation with focus on policy research, grassroot development and athlete development. Sports can be a huge enabler for millions of people in India and we want to play a role of a catalyst in making this happen.
Lead Expert: Amruta Karkhanis Deshmukh

3.       Discovery Sport & Performance Lab, UK
Discovery has international collaboration for experts using advanced sport psychology to develop balanced high performance. At Discovery it’s all about balance and healthy high performance. They help athletes develop motivation, self-talk, imagery, confidence and other mental skills for enhancing performance.
Motto: Strategic Balance of Mental Health and High-Performance using Sport Psychology.
Lead Expert: Sahen Gupta

4.       Poddar Foundation (India)
Poddar Foundation is a registered trust, which focuses on the causes of mental health problems and creates awareness around the issues prevalent in India. Poddar Foundation believes that prevention is better than cure. Their mission is to create awareness about mental health disorders in order to prevent, identify and manage mental health disharmonies.
Lead Expert: Neha Shah

5.       Gazing (UK)
Gazing trains people to develop the Structures, Skillset and Mindset that increase one’s threshold for pressure and allows to perform when one needs it most. Their focus is on sustainable improvements in performance, which means that in the majority of cases, they work with clients over a period of months, or even years, to ensure that the Gazing system they have introduced is functioning effectively, fully understood by those who use it, and delivering the best possible results.
Lead Expert: Martin Fairn

6.       MindFirst Performance (India)
MindFirst Performance Psychology Consulting is a high performance consultancy focusing on developing potentials of athletes and performers by training their mind. Their key objective is to enhance performance at grass-root or elite levels through psychological interventions. Their dream mission is to ensure every team- sport, business or any performance oriented group- has a sport or performance psychologist as a part of their support squad.
Lead Expert: Varadayini

7.       Win Within (India)
Win Within is a Sport psychology & high-performance consultancy with the vision of training athletes to be relentless.
Lead Expert: Priyavrindha