Category Archives: Stakeholder Engagement

January 6, 2015 · 4:58 pm

Concord Academy Students Donate Blankets to Homeless Mothers and Children

As one of two advisors to Concord Academy Students in Action (CASA), a student club for community service, I recently had the pleasure of traveling to Dorchester, Massachusetts to deliver 37 fleece blankets made by the students for the Brookview House, a community setting serving homeless mothers and children.

Concord Academy Students in Action (CASA) members with fleece blankets for homeless mothers and children.

Concord Academy Students in Action (CASA) members with fleece blankets for homeless mothers and children.

Since September of 2012, CASA has been busy with organizing bake sales, fundraising for the critically ill and more recently making fleece blankets. CASA students met for approximately an hour a week to execute these initiatives with energy and enthusiasm.

Donating Fleece Blankets to Brookview House in Dorchester, MA.

Donating Fleece Blankets to Brookview House in Dorchester, MA.

Concord Academy Students in Action (CASA) members with fleece blankets for homeless mothers and children.

It was a team effort, with my colleague Susan Flink, an experienced biology teacher who led Concord Academy students to quickly mobilize themselves to rally for a good cause. The all round feel good factor for these student-projects raises morale and builds character. Stay tuned to learn about more CASA projects in 2013. Happy Holidays everyone!

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Filed under Capacity Buidling, Community Development, Education, Homelessness, Leadership, Philanthropy, Poverty, Stakeholder Engagement, Volunteering

January 1, 2015 · 7:18 pm

Concord Academy Students Helping Local Senior Citizens

Today I had the pleasure of being one of 5 chaperones on a 5-hour service trip where approximately 40 Concord Academy students volunteered to assist senior citizens in Concord, MA in association with the Council on Aging. Chaperones and students split up into small groups around various sites in the town.

Concord Academy Students in Action in Concord, MA

Concord Academy Students in Action in Concord, MA

Tasks included yard work, moving furniture and weather stripping. The seniors appreciated the students’ assistance, especially since it created savings for many who are on fixed incomes and have seen real estate costs rise significantly. The students benefited from the service in that it was a way for them to learn more about their neighborhood and interact with the elderly.

Grateful senior Concord resident with Concord Academy students.

Grateful senior Concord resident with Concord Academy students.

Concord Academy students have created a buzz around the town through this outreach and will continue to do so with other service activities planned for the remainder of the academic year. Overall, one cannot help feel proud and happy for the students who are learning well, by doing good.

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Filed under Community Development, Education, Leadership, Stakeholder Engagement, Volunteering

December 31, 2014 · 4:30 pm

Sharing Community Squash Lessons for Latin America and Caribbean Region

I was recently invited to Havana, Cuba where I was privileged and honored to give a presentation as a panelist in the International Workshop on Physical Activity and Quality of Life at CubaMotricidad. Since there were multiple seminars being held simultaneously, our session opened with a presentation on the United Nations Population Fund’s global and regional approach to an aging population and implications of quality of life for the elderly.

United Nations Special Envoy for Sport for Development and Peace addressing delegates in Havana, Cuba.

United Nations Special Envoy for Sport for Development and Peace addressing delegates in Havana, Cuba.

One may wonder how does a program like Kidsquash that focuses on children between the ages of 8 to 17 apply to the elderly and quality of life? The core of my presentation was to share lessons from the Kidsquash model to improve access to physical activity and promote well-being with an eye for global replication that could be adapted to meet the population needs of a host country.

My fellow panelists presented physical activity, community-based interventions in Finland, Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia across age a variety of age levels.  While there were differences for each countries’ experience, the common theme that emerged from our session and the conference at large, was that planned, coordinated and targeted physical activity, community interventions can play a key role in making a better world.  In the case of Kidsquash and other programs balancing issues of social entrepreneurship, volunteerism and sustainability are critical.

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Filed under Capacity Buidling, Coaching, Community Development, Conferences, Education, Leadership, Networking, Private Public Partnerships, Professional Development, Recreation, Squash, Stakeholder Engagement

December 30, 2014 · 4:15 pm

Concord Academy Students Conduct Thanksgiving Appeal for Critically Ill

This post is driven by my role as a co-advisor to the Concord Academy Students in Action (CASA), a student club for community service. Since the beginning of last month, CASA has been engaged in a Thanksgiving appeal called “Pie in the Sky” to benefit the critically ill and homebound in the Boston area.

Pie_in_the_Sky

Thus far students and parents at Concord Academy have made purchases from Community Servings, the non-profit, food and nutrition program providing services throughout Massachusetts to individuals and families living with critical and chronic illnesses. Caroline Stotz, a sophomore at the Academy has enabled online purchases thereby making the appeal open to all who feel moved to contribute to this cause.

CASA is still selling pies for Pie in the Sky through the first few weeks of November. You can purchase pies here, then pick up your pie before Thanksgiving to make a personal delivery to a sick neighbor or have the pie delivered, on your behalf, to a Community Servings client. Feel free to spread the word!

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Filed under Community Development, Education, Leadership, Philanthropy, Stakeholder Engagement, Volunteering

December 28, 2014 · 6:01 pm

Backing the Squash Bid for 2020 Olympics

In honor of the 2012 World Squash Day, we celebrated by kicking off the 2012-13 Kidsquash season with 15 juniors just beginning their foray into the great game of squash. Lead Coach Luke Hammond, a former coach at SquashBusters along with Octavio Chiesa, a former Kidsquash participant who has returned to volunteer coach this season both brought their energy and enthusiasm to give the beginners a good start.

Kidsquash Backing the 2020 Bid

Kidsquash Backing the 2020 Bid

Later in the evening, I returned to Concord Academy to screen the documentary film called “Keep Eye on Ball: The Hashim Khan Story.” It was an educational experience for Concord Academy students to learn about the legacy of the Khan dynasty as well as the historical origins of squash and how the sport emerged. At Concord Academy, my predecessor was Enamullah Khan, an accomplished squash coach and member of the Khan dynasty.

Keep_Eye_On_the_Ball

Even though the numbers of participants for both events were low they did play a part in shaping the bigger picture.  Today over 20,000 squash players mobilized across the world to back the bid for inclusion of squash into the 2020 Olympics. Hopefully the International Olympic Committee will respond favorably to this campaign to rightfully include a truly global sport.

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Filed under Coaching, Community Development, Education, Leadership, Olympic, Paralympic, Squash, Stakeholder Engagement, Volunteering, Youth Development, Youth Sport

December 26, 2014 · 3:52 pm

Bridging East and West Through Sport

During my travels in India, I made time to visit Kodaikanal International School (KIS), my former boarding school in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. I attended Kodai, approximately 20 years ago and enjoyed my time as a student living and learning in such a vibrant community.  Below is a recent photo taken at the renovated squash courts.

 KIS_Squash Courts

Even though I technically did not graduate from Kodai, I was grateful for the KIS Alumni Association for featuring my professional squash coaching activities in the United States and India in their latest newsletter. This can be read here at KISAA Newsletter 2012 Issue 1.

Upon returning to visit, I found the school had maintained its character of providing a global education with an Indian flavor. I met with former teachers, staff and alumni who helped me reflect upon the intricacies of personal and professional growth. Overall, my visit to Kodai was a pleasant confluence of the past and present.

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Filed under Coaching, Community Development, Education, Leadership, Networking, Professional Development, Squash, Stakeholder Engagement, Youth Development

December 18, 2014 · 11:10 pm

Exploring Frontiers of Social Enterprise in Bangalore

I am writing from Bangalore, India where I recently visited Sneha Care Home, a “home away from home” for HIV infected children. Sneha Care Home is a part of the Sneha Charitable Trust, an initiative by the Brothers and Priests of the Roman Catholic Order of St. Camillus who are collectively known as Camillians. Today’s International Red Cross originates from the work of Camillians.

The purpose of the visit was to listen, observe and exchange ideas between Sneha Care Home staff, volunteers and students. Over the course of four days, I was fortunate to gain valuable classroom teaching experience with children between the ages of 6 to 13; observe extracurricular activities such as student clubs; introduce new physical education elements emphasizing dynamic stretching and exchange ideas with Brothers, Priests and staff.

Sneha Care Home orphans Playing Sports

Sneha Care Home orphans Playing Sports

At the end of my stay, I met with Father Mathew Perumpil, Director of the Sneha Care Home who just returned from a visit to the USA. He spoke at length of macro and micro issues and we brainstormed together about ways in which Sneha Care Home may have a wider impact in addressing HIV AIDS at the state, national and international levels. Overall, it was a very inspiring visit and again challenged me to find ways of connecting the dots with my experiences in the field of social enterprise.

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Filed under Coaching, Education, HIV AIDS, International Development, Leadership, Networking, Philanthropy, Psycho-Social Support, Rehabilitation, Stakeholder Engagement, Volunteering

December 11, 2014 · 11:14 pm

Visiting Maria’s Public School in Guwahati, Assam

Thanks to my aunt Nellie Ahmed Tanweer, Managing Trustee of Maria’s Public School, an elite pre-K to 12th grade educational institution in Guwahati, Assam I was invited to spend a few days at the school interacting with students, alumni and administrators. My first visit to the school was in 1999 and so I was keen to see the school’s progress.

Following the chief guest and other esteemed educators, I was asked to give brief remarks during the 12th graduation ceremony, where I spoke about the importance of sport and community service. Thereafter, I visited the school again where I spent a morning facilitating questions and answers in 9th and 10th grade classes, touring the new campus and brainstorming with teachers and coaches.

Q&A with Maria Public School Students in Guwahati, Assam.

Q&A with Maria Public School Students in Guwahati, Assam.

Despite the differences in infrastructure with Concord Academy in terms of relatively ill-equipped classrooms, lack of playing fields and limited information technology, there was no shortage of curiosity and enthusiasm on the part of the teachers and students at Maria’s Public School. Perhaps in the future, more student or teacher exchanges between the two schools would make for an enriching educational experience for both school communities.

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Filed under Community Development, Education, Leadership, Networking, Professional Development, Stakeholder Engagement, Youth Development, Youth Sport

December 8, 2014 · 11:26 pm

Change the Game Conference: Sport System re-Design

As the Director of Kidsquash, I was fortunate to attend a thoughtful, inspiring and engaging conference called Change the Game on how to improve outcomes in sport-based youth development programs.  Stepping back from the world of squash and learning best practices from other sport programs helped to rethink how to better serve the Kidsquash community.

re_Design

To use the language of “sport system re-design,” is new but changes to sports by way of playing area, equipment, structure, rules or roles has a long history as learned by the above historical milestones, created by conference organizers. Even in high school squash- a minor sport – re-design has happened in terms of Point-A-Rally scoring to 11 points as opposed to the British scoring of 9 points. There is debate in the squash community as to whether this has been a step in the right direction.

As per the stories of conference speakers, winning people over to the re-Design involves a multitude of strategies and requires patience. Overall, I came away from the conference with a toolkit to take time to bounce ideas off other practitioners in the field of sport-based youth development as well as reflect on Kidsquash’s strengths, weaknesses and outcomes. Hopefully this process will fuel additional action to get the re-Design of Kidsquash “just right.”

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Filed under Capacity Buidling, Coaching, Community Development, Conferences, Education, Grant Making, Leadership, Networking, Squash, Stakeholder Engagement, Youth Development, Youth Sport

December 7, 2014 · 3:19 pm

Honoring the Game

I have been overwhelmed with emails from around the world and so pardon this slow blog entry. I am grateful, humbled and honored by the United States Olympic Committee’s recognition as the 2011 Developmental Coach of the Year for coaching student-athletes at Concord Academy while simultaneously serving as Director of Kidsquash, a community squash program situated at Harvard University.

On the day I received news of the USOC recognition, I attended a Massachusetts Squash event at Dover Squash and Fitness in Natick, Massachusetts where I was fortunate to reunite with Jahangir Khan, (a legendary squash champion from Pakistan who dominated the sport in the 1980s) and thank him for inspiring me 23 years ago to want to play the sport during an exhibition match against Chris Dittmar in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Engrossed by the long, lively and exciting exchanges between Jahangir and Chris, definitely made an impression on me at a young age, but I never expected it would lead to a national recognition for coaching at Kidsquash and Concord Academy.

Jahangir Khan and I after his exhibition match at Arabian Homes in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 1989.

Jahangir Khan and I after his exhibition match at Arabian Homes in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 1989.

Jahangir Khan and I at Dover Squash and Fitness in Natick, Massachusetts, April 2012.

Jahangir Khan and I at Dover Squash and Fitness in Natick, Massachusetts, April 2012.

The award is a testament to the bright, inquisitive and imaginative student-athletes at Concord Academy as well as the aspiring squash players who participate in the Kidsquash program. Both groups have challenged me to find new ways of teaching and growing the sport of squash. I would like to reach out to thank fellow coaches, faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni and members of the Greater Boston community who have all contributed to the USOC’s recognition. In particular, I would like to give my deepest thanks to my family members, in particular my parents, and friends for their support. Also, my mentor and colleague – Coach Bajwa deserves a special thanks for believing in me. I hope this recognition demonstrates the values of teamwork, fair play and opportunity for all.

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Filed under Coaching, Community Development, Corporate Social Responsibility, Education, Leadership, Networking, Olympic, Philanthropy, Private Public Partnerships, Stakeholder Engagement, Volunteering, Youth Development, Youth Sport