Silver Innings FC, Youth for Change for Elders Cause

Silver Innings FC (Football Club) is project of Silver Innings (SI), a social enterprise working with Senior Citizens since April 2008, it is supported by Silver Inning Foundation (SIF) , an NGO working with Senior Citizens.

 

Vision: Our vision is of an Generation Friendly world , where people of all ages live in harmony

Mission : To create awareness and sensitizes youth towards our Elders through sports for development concept

Objective:
To Promote Football

To Promote Sports for Development and provide Life Skills among children’s and youths

To create awareness about elder issues among children’s and youths in community, schools and colleges and thereby create a generation friendly society

To create Inter generational bonding 

The Team:

The Silver Innings pilot project was with Sponsorship of Team Alfresco FC in 2011 and 2012 “Foot D Ball to Stop Elder Abuse”, it recognizes the potential that football and other sports can unleash when systematically included in processes of social change. Football especially has the power to unite people and cultures all over the world. As a team sport it promotes fairness and tolerance, leapfrogs gender boundaries and fosters mutual understanding, thereby contributing to the positive development of personality and character.

With this successful Pilot project, Silver Innings launched its own Football Club in June 2013, ’Silver Innings FC’(SIFC) under leadership of Pritesh Singh, Team Coach – Manager. Pritesh Singh say’s “the whole idea is to engage youths, empowering them with skills to positively develop their personality and character, thus increasing opportunities to tackle their life and enhancing a strong civil society”.

Sailesh Mishra, Founder of Silver Innings, quotes “SIFC will utilize skill and wisdom of our Elder and use a holistic approach to promote ‘Sports for Development’ through Football”.

SIFC in 2013-14 played their first prestigious tournament MDFA III Division for 2013-14 and in their very first attempt were group Topper in Group E, with 16 points from 7 matches with 6 Win and 1 Draw.

As SIFC was group topper in III Division in 2013-14, they were promoted to Div II in 2014-15.

Our 2014-15 Team:

 

At time of going press, Update till date 13^th Nov 2014, following is MDFA Div II tournament standing of SIFC :  1 Loss ,1 Win, 2 Draw.

 

Background:
The process of urbanisation and globalization have led to demographic , socio-cultural and economical changes in India , disintegration of joint family system and increase in cost of living which is thereby resulting in decrease in opportunities for grandparents and grandchildren to interact and socialize , resulting in increase in intergenerational gap and disharmony.
To bridge this gap, Fusion and Synergy between Youth & Elders will help us to achieve our vision of creating elder friendly world where ageing becomes a positive and rewarding experience. This intergeneration activity with Sport For Development (S4D) concept through Football is tried for first ever time for promoting Elder Cause and to create awareness about Elder Abuse in civil society.


Need :
Sports programme promotes social inclusive and serve as effective tool for social mobilization. Access to and participation in sport is a human right and essential for individuals of all ages to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.

Sport and physical activity are essential for improving health and well being. Appropriate forms of sport and physical activity can play a significant role to prevent as well as help cure many of the world's leading noncommunicable diseases. Evidence shows that regular participation in physical activity programmes provides all people with a wide range of physical, social and mental health benefits. Such active participation also interacts positively with strategies to improve diet, discourage the use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs and enhance functional capacity. Consequently, physical activity is an effective method of disease prevention for the individual and, for nations, a cost-effective way to improve public health.

Sport, recreation and play are a fun way to learn values and lessons that will last a life time. They promote friendship and fair play. They teach team work, discipline, respect, and the coping skills necessary to ensure that children develop into caring individuals. They help prepare young people to meet the challenges they will face and to take leadership roles within their communities. Sport and recreation programs are creating environments that are safe and promote stable relationships between children and adults, and among children themselves. Sport as a development instrument becomes even more interesting if it is durably embedded in the local society.

Sport and play are important to UNICEF because they are vital elements in the health, happiness and well-being of children and young people. Research shows that participation by young people in structured recreation contributes to their physical and psychosocial development and can teach basic values and life skills - hard work, discipline, teamwork, fairness and respect for others - that shape individuals' behaviour and help them to pursue their goals and respond appropriately to events in their own lives and in those of others.

UNICEF's Sport for Development (S4D) work is grounded in its mission to ensure that every child has the right to recreation and play in a safe and healthy environment - a right founded in Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child - as well as the right to sport, which is specifically contained in other international treaties. It also recognizes sport-based initiatives as a programme strategy to achieve specific development objectives, including, most notably, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Football is one of the most patronized sports around the world. All around the globe, organisations driven by local social entrepreneurs, use the power of the beautiful game to positively transform their communities. Development through Football is becoming an important issue within the development cooperation and social work sectors. 

Fuelling positive social change through Football has become a fundamental pillar in and carries a significant responsibility for the society as a whole. Due to its values, popularity, universal nature and appeal, football -in all its forms- can be seen as the ideal instrument for achieving social and human development targets and tackling many of the major challenges faced by society today. Football has a positive effect on those who play it, both in terms of health (physical activity) and life skills (the values of team sport).

A perfect analogy to life ,The principles and values of street- or simply informal football played within Development through Football programmes include fair play, team spirit, tolerance, inclusion, and understanding, both of oneself but also of the others, regardless of their status as opponents or team mates.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup which was staged in Africa for the first time ever has strengthen the connection between football and social development even more and thus offer a great chance to showcase the full potential of football.

In India organsiation like Dream A Dream has training module “The Dream Way of Working with Children” highlights values like respect for children, progressive ways of getting children to follow instructions, and making learning for children fun, interesting and participatory.
Also Magic Bus India works for change through football ,finds the potential and abilities within each child, empowering them to build strong and aware communities free of religious and caste prejudice and gender divides. It believes in the child’s right to a positive future in which they make their own choices and take responsibility for change.

We call upon members of Civil Society , Youth Clubs , Sports Club , UN Agencies, Educational Institutions , Corporate , Media ,Senior Citizens Organization’s and Senior Citizens to come ahead and support our unique pilot project “Silver Innings FC ” by Participating , Organizing matches , Capacity building training , Train the Trainer , Media promotion and most important by Funding and Sponsoring.

Contact: silverinnings@gmail.com , Mobile: 91+ 9920852255

LIKE us at : https://www.facebook.com/SilverInningsFc/

Towards an Age-friendly World, WHO guidelines

A key strategy to facilitate the inclusion of older persons is to make our world more age-friendly. An age-friendly world enables people of all ages to actively participate in community activities and treats everyone with respect, regardless of their age. It is a place that makes it easy for older people to stay connected to people that are important to them. And it helps people stay healthy and active even at the oldest ages and provides appropriate support to those who can no longer look after themselves.

Many cities and communities are already taking active steps towards becoming more age-friendly. A new dedicated website, Age-friendly World, supports them in this endeavor by providing a one-stop-shop on age-friendly action at the local level: guides and tools, age-friendly practices and information on hundreds of city and community initiatives around the world. Browse the web site to learn more about what can be done to make your city or communities more age-friendly.


Check this exclusive Age-friendly website:  http://agefriendlyworld.org/en/


View the map of cities which have joined the Age-friendly network: 
https://extranet.who.int/sree/Reports?op=vs&path=/WHO_HQ_Reports/G21/PROD/EXT/GNAFCC%202 


Take this WHO Survey and Contribute your inputs:  http://apps.who.int/datacol/survey.asp?survey_id=600
 

Application form to join WHO Global Network of Age-Friendly cities: http://www.who.int/ageing/application_form/en/


Issued in public interest by #Silverinnings

“We were older then, we are younger now”

Dr John Beard, Director, Ageing and Life Course

When is someone old?

One question that I am often asked is “When is someone old?"

 
The more I work in the field of healthy ageing, the more difficulty I have providing an answer. There are, of course, definitions that are used for statistical purposes – the UN has historically adopted 60 years as a cut-off. But the link between chronological age and the health and functional status of an individual is tenuous at best. 

And many other factors may have just as significant an influence on an older person’s ability to do the things they value. For example, the attitude of business to employing older people is likely to have a very strong influence on whether they can continue to work. Similarly, the presence of disabled access public transport can help determine whether an older person gets where they want to go, regardless of any functional limitations they may have.

So this is not just a question for statisticians. I am 59 years old and have just welcomed a gorgeous son to my family. I seem to be in pretty good health. Next year my son will be 1 and I will be 60. Will I be old?
Increasing numbers of people the world over are likely to ask themselves the same thing. By 2050, the world’s population aged 60 years and older is expected to total 2 billion – up from 841 million today. Eighty per cent of these people will live in what are now low- or middle-income countries. 

Our goal should be for long life in good health

This is a huge success for public health. But our goal should be for people not just to live longer, but to have healthier, more fulfilling lives.
To achieve this, much will have to change. Unfortunately, the information we have on what might work and what doesn’t is very limited. For example, while we know people are living longer, we do not yet know whether they are living those additional years in good or poor health. It seems likely this will depend considerably on where you live. 

Dispelling outdated and “ageist” perspectives

We are not simply challenged by knowledge gaps. We are held back by myths that have emerged in an effort to fill these gaps. These often reinforce outdated and “ageist” perspectives on what getting older means for the individual and for society. 

One example is the myth that providing health services for an ageing population will necessarily be unaffordable. This does not fit with the evidence which shows that the last 18 months of life place most demand on health systems, regardless of how old you are. And, interestingly, the costs of health care in the last 18 months of life appear to drop significantly when someone reaches 80, when conventional health services are often replaced by different forms of long-term care. 

Furthermore, research suggests that while population ageing will certainly lead to an increase in expenditure on health care, the introduction of new technologies and treatments is likely to have a much bigger impact, as is the natural tendency for countries and individuals to spend more on health as they get richer. There are also many inefficiencies in most health systems that have an enormous influence on costs. 

It is now becoming clear that the way we design services makes a difference too. Hospitals designed to manage individual diseases separately have much poorer outcomes for older patients than those that provide holistic and coordinated care. This is because as we get older, the health conditions we experience change. Young people may have single, curable disorders, but older people are more likely to experience chronic conditions, and experience more than one of them at a time. 


Read in Detail: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/commentaries/ageing/en/

 

 

WHO: “Ageing well” must be a global priority

6 November 2014 ¦ GENEVA

A major new Series on health and ageing, published in "The Lancet", warns that unless health systems find effective strategies to address the problems faced by an ageing world population, the growing burden of chronic disease will greatly affect the quality of life of older people. As people across the world live longer, soaring levels of chronic illness and diminished wellbeing are poised to become a major global public health challenge.

Effective health interventions increasing life expectancy

Worldwide, life expectancy of older people continues to rise. By 2020, for the first time in history, the number of people aged 60 years and older will outnumber children younger than 5 years. By 2050, the world’s population aged 60 years and older is expected to total 2 billion, up from 841 million today. Eighty per cent of these older people will be living in low-income and middle-income countries.
The increase in longevity, especially in high-income countries (HICs), has been largely due to the decline in deaths from cardiovascular disease (stroke and ischaemic heart disease), mainly because of simple, cost-effective strategies to reduce tobacco use and high blood pressure, and improved coverage and effectiveness of health interventions.

Challenge of ageing healthily

However, although people are living longer, they are not necessarily healthier than before – nearly a quarter (23%) of the overall global burden of death and illness is in people aged over 60, and much of this burden is attributable to long-term illness caused by diseases such as cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, heart disease, musculoskeletal diseases (such as arthritis and osteoporosis), and mental and neurological disorders.
This long-term burden of illness and diminished wellbeing affects patients, their families, health systems, and economies, and is forecast to accelerate. For example, latest estimates indicate that the number of people with dementia is expected to rise from 44 million now, to 135 million by 2050.

Read in detail:  http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/lancet-ageing-series/en/

WHO media contacts

Christian Lindmeier
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Telephone: +41 22 791 1948
Mobile: +41 7 95 00 65 52
Email: lindmeierch@who.int