“You don’t stop playing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop playing” are the famous words of George Bernard Shaw, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature back in 1925.
Contrary to the above lines, India, the youngest country of the world remains one of the least sporting nation. Many times after serious failures at the international stage, we introspect the situation and blame the government or athletes for performance.
And until the fall remains in fresh memory of the country and media, much is said and planned for fixing the dire state of our beloved country. Some of the efforts over the past many years have yielded results but remains pretty insignificant compared to the scale of reforms that are required.
India is battling a curse that is now so deeply rooted in the minds of generation moving away from sports. And it is the lack of sports culture in our lives. Most of us will agree that although it’s government that calls the shots and can start a wave of change by some good policy, the real power to induce and sustain such sports culture lies with the citizen. Or maybe there is an innovation waiting to happen that will transform our culture and society towards better sports !
Devam Srivastava, just like one of the millions of people coming to Delhi NCR every year, shifted to Gurgaon for his first job at Hero MotoCorp after completing Mechanical Engineering from MNNIT, Allahabad. Unlike most of us, sports had a special place in his life. After working 6 days a week, he would try to find players and go for a cricket match whenever possible on a Sunday.
Initially, it would be fellow colleagues from his company, then his friends and maybe friend of friends. Almost rivaling the time spent playing was the time spent in planning the match, but all that was worth it for the love of the game. The initial problems that sow the seeds of Sports Social were easy to point out; there was very little going right in India’s sports ecosystem. And when you know of a remarkable problem out there that needs to be solved, what do yo do? You STARTUP !!
Devam was soon working in a team of 5, from his college who found the challenge worth taking and founded Sports Social. Together they decided to work on a vision to promote sports and build a dedicated sports platform for everyone.
Sports Social was to become a strong sports community to promote sports and fitness interests for a better society. Sports Social app was opened for public access on 31st December 2016 on the Google Play Store, after a successful test run.
The application helps you connect with other people living nearby with similar sports interests. One can browse the application and choose to connect with people based on 64 sports which cover a variety of team, recreational and fitness sports.
Using the application, you can start matches in the Sports Social Arena by providing details like date, time and venue of the matches. When you start a match, your playmates and nearby people having interest in the same sport are notified. They can choose to play in any particular event after browsing the complete match details.
Also, you can make it private if you want to play only with your playmates(connections). You can even chat inside the application with your playmates and stay connected, wherever you are. All the matches that you are part of, remain in your profile. The aim is to gather all the sports activities at one place in the form of your sports profile.
For many people who live with the cherished memories of their favorite game, scoring 50’s and 100’s when they were young and used to play, Sports Social is a platform to relive their moments. The platform will help them be young and sporty again using their Sports Social profile for being connected to the sport they love their entire life.
Younger generation has the most opportunity, which most of us didn’t have. They have a platform to showcase their talent and maintain a sports profile that defines them for now and future. When they move to colleges and then to other cities for jobs, the profile they carry will become their identity for sports.
They will seamlessly integrate with the regional communities for different sports of their interest and pursue a healthy lifestyle which the country needs so desperately. The opportunity comes as a blessing against rising general trend among youngsters moving away from the conventional outdoor games due to lack of interest.
Their profile and activities on Sports Social platform will motivate and inspire others in their circle to participate in sports. As for the many who have just joined college and don’t know much of the folks around, they won’t have to wait for creating their sports communities. Just use the Sports Social application and start having an active sports life again !
About 3 millions graduate colleges every year, and they leave behind the very sports lifestyle they were part of. Most of them never play again. The migration trend in population has adversely affected the sports culture as well. But if you are using Sports Social, you can follow your sports from anywhere you are as the whole sports ecosystem around is just a click away. Your amazing profile will help you stay connected to your game and earn you more fans on the sports social network.
Similarly a generation of players who work in different corporations now lead a morbid life devoid of much sports activities. One of the key factors for the situation is not lack of time or interest, but in fact lack of active communities and their visibility. It’s time to make most of your weekends and play again.
No interest is meant to be forgotten, relive those crazy cricket moments, cycle with your best friends, take out those badminton rackets or football sneakers and create a culture that becomes a legacy for generations to follow. And against the odds it’s pretty simple, start by creating a match of your interest on Sports Social application, you will be amazed by the responses of nearby sports enthusiasts who are pretty interested and in search of someone like you !
Although sports remains a challenging industry for investors, mainly because of the uncertainties that exist in the sports culture, the team has seen many admirers who have come forward to lend a helping hand for taking the vision forward. Recently Pulkit Mathur, senior advertising professional incidentally met Devam during a badminton match started on the Sports Social app came on board as the first angel and marketing adviser for the team.
John Adams, The 2nd President of United States of America said the following lines a couple of centuries ago, “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”
As India moves from the second generation to third, the digital India movement will help us connect more and change our lives for the better. The nation is finally moving towards prosperity in terms of human lives and ideas like Sports Social are shaping up the path for future.
Sports Social aims to promote fitness oriented lifestyle and become a go-to platform for all sports engagement, bringing people and their zeal to play over other factors. As a step to impact people’s mindset, the first version of Sports Social is live, and this is not it! Lot many features are in the queue and will get executed to enhance the users experience.
The application is a generic platform and can be used anywhere, with same functionalities from urban to sub urban localities which have access to the internet. As more people come on the network, the data can be used to identify talented youngsters and promote them on the next level.
Devam Srivastava, Founder of Sports Social says “Our vision is to create a strong technical platform for the masses and reach every person who lives in metro cities or remote villages, to provide a sports experience like none before. We work to realize our dream of a culture where everyone interested to play can participate, especially young talent and those who excel can pursue the opportunities without fear of being left out of the system.”
“We want to integrate all those who feel left behind by creating a robust sports ecosystem that helps further and becomes base for future growth. We are leveraging technology for creating smart solutions in the sports industry like advanced sports management system to integrate all stakeholders in the industry and creating a business that generates opportunities and drives motivation for everyone involved.” he adds.
Sports Social is not only the product India wants, but in fact what India needs. #ChaseYourSport
