Youth is a crucial part of our community and they need to be instilled with positive values and life skills to achieve excellence in all aspects of life. Some of these skills include time management, leadership, and problem-solving skills. Engagement in structural recreational activities keeps children off the streets, and teaches them valuable lessons of life.
Sports play a pivotal role in attaining crucial values – discipline, responsibility, self-confidence, sacrifice and accountability. Involvement in sports teaches kids the meaning of excellence and, gives them a resistant attitude towards negativity. Once a habit is attained, it is hard to let go of – so why not inculcate in our children the positive habits that will help them reach high levels of success and satisfaction.
Many families migrate to Canada with a vision of securing a future for their children, which leads them to work hard for financial stabilization. In the process of securing amenities and financial freedom for the family, parents, in large cases, leave their kid neglected without proper parental supervision. As a result, these children seek instantaneous stratification and overnight results through other resources. In other words, the quick and easy lure of drug money is overwhelming but is also a vicious trap which they realize after, and many times it is too late to back away.
Our program, Kids Play Youth Foundation and many other non profit organisations in the lower mainland and outside our perimeters are working hard to keep our youth on the right track. Veteran officer, Kalwinder Dosanjh, and Olympian, Arjan Singh Bhullar, came together with the idea of Kids Play. Dosanjh, who has worked in downtown east side for a number of years, converted his experience into a Youth Soccer program. This program essentially entitled disadvantaged youth from low socio-economic backgrounds. These children are continually exposed to criminal environments making them more prone to the drugs and gang life style. Dosanjh provided these children with a constructive outlet versus seeking identification in a gang settings.
This program has grown tremendously over the past few years and has had more than 1,500 youth participants. For Bhullar, as an Olympian, he appreciates the value of sports. Sports have played a crucial role in his life and instilled values and principles which he was able to translate into success in many aspects of life. Both came together and wished to start an organization which utilized education and sports to deter youth away from a criminal life style. This gave birth to Kids Play.
