Introduction:

Independent Youth Sports Council is a unit of the YOUTH PARLIAMENT of J&K, a registered Educational Charitable, Non-Profit Trust led by Nadeem Qadri, Chairman and Founder President. The Independent Youth Sports Council, YPJK is working with the partner sport organizations to provide year round sports programming at village, block, district and state level. Thousands of youth will be able to play football, cricket, soccer, basketball, baseball and volleyball at very low cost. Young players can register themselves by going to a local Youth Sports Center of IYSC, YPJK with residence proof, birth certificate, state subject certificate and can purchase an IYSC ID card. This card is valid for one year and the member is eligible to sign up to register to play on sports teams throughout that year. The partner sports organizations provides the facilities to play and the Independent Youth Sports Council provides uniforms, equipment, officials, schedules, and awards.

The mission of the Independent Youth Sports Council is to assist in the development of youth sports programs aimed at helping the high-risk youth of J&K to come out from the cycle of poverty. The Independent Youth Sports Council seeks to build self-esteem, provide positive role models and promote good individual habits such as staying in school, avoiding drug and resisting gang involvement and other criminal activities. Many of the ills of J&K’s society today are directly traceable to the “cycle of poverty”. Some sociologists term the growing segment of our population affected by the cycle of poverty as the “permanent underclass”. Obviously, some young people are able to break the cycle. And, the good news is that to help one boy or girl escape has implications for generations. How do they do it? Almost always it is because someone took a personal interest in that young person, provided a glimpse of what he or she could be, and gave them the support to overcome their surroundings. Youth sports programs can be a tremendously effective vehicle for breaking the cycle of poverty. Kids are interested in sports. The team experience mirrors so many of life’s circumstances. Success, failure, hard work, cooperation, supporting others, discipline, following rules, and dealing with unfairness (bad calls) can all be experienced in a season. Carefully selected, well trained coaches can serve as a role model and help teach important life lessons. Quality uniforms, equipment and programming will help make disadvantaged kids feel worth. Finally, supervised sports activities offer an alternative for the idle time that often draws kids into destructive circumstances.