News Changing the Lives of Children Through Sailing.....Optimist Sailing

Changing the Lives of Children Through Sailing.....Optimist Sailing

We all know that sailing an Optimist can change a child’s life.  It teaches kids life skills such as resilience, independence, decision making, self-reliance, and discipline.  It also teaches the value of fair play, respect, teamwork, integrity, inclusiveness, and caring for the environment.

Suheim Sheikh, from Hyderabad, India, an IIT-M alumnus, and an award winning software designer, gave up his corporate career in favour of literally giving sails to the children from socially and economically challenged families, with the opportunity to aspire to achieve and to break out of the vicious circle of life by empowering them with dignity through the sport of sailing.... Optimist Sailing!

In the video TEDX Talk, he tells you how he catalyzed the transformation in the lives of so many children.  From walking barefoot to the club where he coaches them, to representing India in the International Championships, these are some amazingly inspirational voyages.

Through his program, Suheim has produced 6 National Champions, 25 National medalists and 10 State Champions through his NGO titled The Yacht Club of Hyderabad, which is the largest not-for-profit training establishment in the area teaching economically challenged kids to sail competitively at international levels by providing them full-service patronage with a fleet of more than 100 Optimist Dinghies. Today there are 131 sailors in the program. 

Here is the link to the video  https://youtu.be/SL1CH-8PSUc 

Enjoy!