CSR: Herbalife Nutrition extending $150,000 to Special Olympics Bharat for Developmental Sports programme

Special Olympics Bharat launched Developmental Sports for young athletes to enable their transition to higher sport participation by learning sport specific skills. Herbalife Nutrition has extended CSR support to the tune of US $150,000 for two years from April 2020, to expand the programming across the length and breadth of the country.

What is Developmental Sports?

Developmental Sports activities can provide an age-appropriate introduction to sports for children with and without intellectual disabilities, ages 6-12 years old. Sport participation helps children develop physically, mentally, and socially and contributes to the development of long-term healthy lifestyles.

Special Olympics Young Athletes provides children with a general introduction to the fundamental gross motor movements that will help them become more successful in sport. While children can participate in Young Athletes through age seven, as children get older, they are often ready for more sport-specific coaching and instruction.

Developmental sports launch

The virtual launch on the evening of 23rd September witnessed the presence of Ajay Khanna, Vice President & Country Head, Herbalife Nutrition (India) , Dipak Natali , President & Managing Director, Special Olympics – Asia Pacific Region; Air Marshal Keelor PVSM, KC, AVSM, VrC, Founder & CEO, SO Bharat and Satish Pillai, Chairman SO Bharat, Special Athletes Siddhant Nath, Rithik Hukku and Shrey Kadian all of whom have represented SO Bharat at different Special Olympics global events. They were paired with their respective Unified Buddies who are the youth leaders without Intellectual Disabilities, a concept aligned with the mission of Special Olympics encouraging engagements between the youth with and without Intellectual Disabilities.

In the words of Ajay Khanna, Vice President/Country Head, Herbalife International India Pvt. Ltd: “Herbalife Nutrition is proud to reach out with CSR support and change the lives of the Specially-abled children and athletes, with the help of Special Olympics Bharat. Sports is a great equalizer and this organisation has been at the forefront of inspiring not only the sporting talent but also enabling attitudinal change in the communities we live in. The children are blessed with phenomenal determination, and we are happy to be able to give them a platform to shine while sending a very powerful message to the world. That resilience helps overcome all odds. Our relationship with Special Olympics Bharat exemplifies our commitment to Build Better and we look forward to continuing this deeply meaningful relationship”.

Air Marshal Denzil Keelor PVSM, KC, AVSM, VrC, Founder & CEO, Special Olympics Bharat said: “Herbalife Nutrition is an organization with a heart and this is so humbly yet passionately demonstrated in all that they say and do. I am overwhelmed to see how this partnership has grown, from supporting multiple events, to our participation in landmark global event like the Unified Cup 2018 that was held in Chicago; and now to a programme based support that would establish the athletes on a path of sports excellence.”

Disclaimer: This media release is auto-generated. The CSR Journal is not responsible for the content