MANILA, Philippines – How are you sparking change in your community?
For the athletes of Youth Sports Advocacy (YSA), it's by teaching children discipline through sports.
YSA is a non-profit organization that uses sports to transform the youth into better individuals. Founded in May 2015, the organization gives free training sessions on various sports to kids from 4 to 17 years old.
According to volunteer coach Noel Binalla, YSA initially started with one community in Tandang Sora. The group of volunteers decided to spread their advocacy to other communities because of the impact they saw on the kids.
"Some of the kids are now varsity players in their respective schools. We were able to make them realize that sports is not just sports. They can use it to change their lives, make themselves better individuals, and to help other people," Binalla said.
The same year that YSA was founded, it was named one of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations in the country. This paved the way for YSA to realize its true potential to be an instrument of social change through sports.
"Volunteerism has been the backbone of YSA's success and we were inspired to promote volunteerism more," the organization said.
Binalla added: "We want people to realize that they don't need to be financially stable or to be successful athletes to be able to give back. We always emphasize on our social media posts that they can give back if they have time, passion for sports, and the willingness to share these to the youth."
For YSA, change is all about instilling the discipline of sports in the next generation.– Rappler.com
Youth Sports Advocacy is a partner organization of Rappler's civic engagement arm MovePH. For more information on how you can help or be part of YSA, check out their stories on X. Know more about our other organization partners:
Do you want your organization to be part of MovePH's X Network? Email us at move.ph@rappler.com!
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