Nita Ambani has always led from the front when it comes to the field of sports. Be it Reliance Foundation's grassroots level football movements, the Indian Premier League (IPL), or the Indian Super League (ISL), Nita Ambani is extremely vocal about encouraging multiple sports across the country.
Indian Super League
Although football may not be as popular as cricket in India, Mrs. Ambani said that it is surely catching up. Referring to the ISL, she explains how the quality of players who have showed interest in the league has exceeded her expectations.
Stadiums in Kolkata, Goa, Kerala, and the north east of India witnessed a fill rate of over 90%. Cities like Pune and Chennai also have many people thronging the stadiums to support their favorite ISL teams. Nita Ambani said that on average, every stadium has 27,000 individuals in attendance.
Role played by Nita Ambani
Reliance's association with IMG grants it access to the latter's fashion, sports, and entertainment properties. As Chairperson of the league, Nita Ambani states that the extension of the ISL season from 2.5 months to 3.5 months would be highly beneficial. She feels that this would not only help more brands get associated with ISL but also give the teams a chance to sell.
Having gained experience from working for the Reliance Industries-owned Mumbai Indians team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Nita explains how ISL team owners do not expect a break even occurring in the initial years. Since football is yet to take off massively in terms of popularity and awareness, they are happy with how things working out.
Reliance Foundation
Nita Ambani-led Reliance Foundation (RF) lays special emphasis on sports as she believes that sports can facilitate better learning and encourage young individuals to foster bonds with team mates and grow as leaders.
The foundation conducts an annual sports day with around 40,000 individuals who participate in the same. Reliance Foundation also launched the Jr. NBA Program in 2013 to promote basketball. With the help of schools, it has reached more than 8, 00,000 youngsters across the country.
Education for All initiative
Each year, the foundation involves underprivileged children from Mumbai in the IPL matches. Supported by the Education for All (EFA) initiative, several children are invited to witness a live Mumbai Indians match. In order to facilitate a good experience for differently-abled children, the foundation also makes special provisions for them.
Young Champs program
Launched in 2015, the program provides full-time training to aspiring footballers between the ages of 10 and 14 years. In the first year itself, the foundation reached out to over half a million children.
The Young Champs program is a key factor in determining the future prospect of ISL. Nita Ambani explained how the training and scouting camps at grassroots levels would help discover the hidden talent in India.
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