We have it in good faith that as soon as Sudheesh Reddy, Charith Reddy, Varshith Narra and Sarath Reddy walked into Telangana Minister KTR's office recently, his proud smile was all that they needed to know that they had done a good job. After all, they had walked in with a cheque of Rs 1.5 lakh, the amount they had gathered from the charity football match they organised on September 12. The same proceeds are now going straight to the CM's Relief Fund. "He was just glad that kids were coming up with new and novel ways to help society," says Varshith.
The four youngsters have always been football fans, so much so that they used to call themselves 'the pack'. Drawing from the same phrase, when they decided to play for a cause, they called their organisation the Wolves Organisation. And what they were after was quite noble. "We wanted to do something for India's COVID warriors and we thought that donating to the CM's Relief Fund would be a sure-shot way to do this," says Varshith. So, they instantly got the ball rolling to organise an Under-19 football tournament, keeping in mind all the COVID protocols, of course.
September 12 was marked as D-Day and the venue was Astro Park, the grounds on the premise of Apollo Hospitals in Jubilee Hills. If you're wondering how four boys pulled off a tournament in 12 days, it's fairly simple. "Many youngsters eagerly signed up with us as they were relieved and happy to get out of the house," says the 17-year-old national-level football player. This is how 45 six-member teams registered for the tournament, out of which, only 32 were selected due to social distancing and other COVID protocols.
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Quickly, a sponsorship of Rs 60,000 fell into place and companies like Sahiti Infratech (who have also agreed to sponsor their next event), Ganas Home Designs, Virchow Biotech and Mapmygenome too came on board. With the participation fee of Rs 3,000 and a few participants actually paying more for charity, on September 12 at 9:30 am, the tournament was declared open. With the aim of wrapping it up in a day, the games did not stop till 8:00 pm and were played back-to-back. Etihad FC walked away with the winning trophy and prize money of Rs 20,000 and Varshith informs us that many games brought people to the edge of their seats. "In the semi-finals, my team, End Kalva Op, was playing against Etihad FC. We were neck and neck as we both had scored one goal each, but in the last minute, they managed to score a brilliant goal and that was that," says the youngster who studies at The Future Kid's School. While he continues to pursue his Class XI there, Sudheesh now studies at CHIREC International School, while Charith and Sarath are at Oakridge International School.
With the help of 20 dedicated and on-ground volunteers, they pulled off their very first tournament quite smoothly and provided water, juice and fruits to the participants too. "We are very happy with the response we have received for our first event. Our second event is already in the works," he shares with glee.
