The Right Pitch (TRP) was born in one of the biggest slum communities in Mumbai, where children faced multifaceted issues such as drug abuse, child marriages, behavioral issues, and high dropout rates. This applies to 125 million children in Indian slums. As a result, there is a high rate of dropouts, and less than 50% of students possess basic life skills essential for employability.
The Right Pitch uses life skills as a medium to coach students aged 8 to 15 from underresourced communities in cricket. We do this using the ERO Model -
- Engagement: 2 cricket sessions per week that enable them to learn sports & life skills. We have built our life skills curriculum that teaches concepts like self-awareness, understanding relationships, peer pressure, dealing with conflict, etc while playing the sport.
- Resources: such as cricket gear, jerseys, shoes, and fitness equipment to have fun and play safe. Each school is allotted a coach from their communities, who become their role models guiding them through life.
- Opportunities: to participate in the annual tournament (where they get an opportunity to showcase their skills), get advanced coaching (with leather balls), and represent their schools in external tournaments.
TRP has grown from a classroom management initiative in 2015, continued as a community-driven model for 5 years, and kicked off again in 2022.
Between 2015 and 2017, The Right Pitch impacted 5000 children in 2 of Mumbai’s biggest slums. Since the pandemic, we've reached 13 schools and over 1200 students from Mumbai public and low-income private schools. To ensure quality, we train 100 children in every partner school with tennis balls. In the past 2 years, all schools reported increased attendance, 75% of students gained confidence, and 80% improved cricketing skills.
In the next two years, we'll reach 120 schools via government partnerships, providing life skills training through a digitized curriculum with 30 differentiated modules for 1000+ cricket coaches nationwide. Starting 2024, we'll expand to another city, 700 students transition to leather balls, with 10% connected to cricket academies for professional opportunities
If you are a coach/school, identify a group of students interested in cricket (coach-to-student ratio - maximum 1:25 for best results). Reach out to us and we’ll be happy to train you on life skills, and technical cricket skills and share our life skills curriculum. Get in touch with us at contact@barefootedu.com.
