Meet Courageous Use of Sport Award Winner Saba Khan
March 10, 2023
For the past six years, Beyond Sport and WWE have partnered to celebrate incredible young leaders who are overcoming personal hardships to positively impact their communities through sport. Today, meet 21-year-old Saba Khan, a 2022 recipient of the Courageous Use of Sport Award, presented by WWE.
“It’s important to remember that making a difference doesn’t have to be a grand or world-changing gesture. Even small acts of kindness and generosity can have a profound impact on those around us. Each positive action we take has the potential to create a ripple effect of positivity that can truly make a difference in the world.”
Growing up in a family of seven, Saba comes from a conservative culture in Mumbai, India where the parity between men’s and women’s rights are worlds apart. Girls have limited opportunties, getting an education isn't guaranteed and participation in sport is widely discouraged. Compounding this, financial poverty, a lack of access to healthcare and limited opportunities for social interaction and physical activity also contribute to poor mental health and overall wellbeing.
Despite these challenges, Saba has big dreams and fought hard for an education and her right to play, the latter without her family’s support. She found the OSCAR Foundation and started taking football sessions there to pursue her sporting dreams. The charity uses the sport to encourage children to stay in school and equip them with skills to make them resilient and future-ready. With her love of running she was placed at right back and ultimately became part of the senior team.
Following years of tournaments and sessions, Saba's coaches helped her realize her power to inspire and influence others, just like they did for her. She trained under the Foundation’s Young Leader program, which teaches youth from low-income communities, including previous OSCAR beneficiaries, to work with other vulnerable young children through football coaching and mentorship skills development.
"Sometimes, the most powerful inspiration can come from our own personal experiences and the situations we face in our daily lives. For me, it was the toxic environment in my home that inspired me to become a change maker and make a positive impact in my community. Football taught me resilience and teamwork. After I started playing, I gained a lot of confidence. "
“Making a positive impact in the lives of others is a deeply personal endeavor, one that is highly dependent on our passions and views of life. I have chosen to pursue these opportunities based on what I enjoy and what brings me happiness. It didn’t take long for me to discover that my true passion lies in making a difference in the lives of others. Witnessing the positive impact that results from my personal actions is incredibly motivating and drives me to continue striving towards positive change.”
For the last few years, Saba has been delivering football and life skill sessions to young girls always keeping her dreams of freedom and opportunity for her younger sister and those like her at the back of her mind. She has carved a niche for herself in sport for development and came to realize that not only young girls were restricted by gender stereotypes, so were older women.
Building on her desire to challenge gender norms and inspired by her mother's resilience and determination, Saba expanded her reach and started her own project for women aged 18 to 50. “Walking Football” is an inclusive version of the game for participants who might not be as physically fit or used to playing sports. Saba has engaged 30 women so far and mobilized seven local communities through her project.
“For many women in conservative societies, opportunities to participate in sports are limited. As a result, they may suffer from emotional and physical health issues. This is a problem that hits close to home for me, as my own mother has faced these challenges due to societal expectations and gender stereotypes.”
She has since named the project HOPE, which stands for Health and Opportunity to Pursue Empowerment. Saba’s mission is to promote health and fitness and provide a sense of fulfillment among women who rarely get the opportunity to exercise or connect outside of the home. HOPE addresses the physical and mental health needs of local women by providing fun and engaging physical activities like yoga, Zumba - which she also loves - and football.
“Engaging in sports activities can help us forget our pain and problems, allowing us to feel free like a bird soaring in the sky. This is the transformative power of sports - it has the ability to change everything... My mother has been my biggest inspiration and role model, encouraging me to be a changemaker in my community. Through sports, I hope to inspire others to break down barriers and create a more inclusive and supportive society for women everywhere.”
HOPE also provides a safe space and supportive environment for local women to connect with one another and discuss a variety of issues, providing a network to share resources and skills and uplift women overall. In turn, the platform encourages women and mothers to give their daughters the opportunities for education and sport that they did not have growing up to break down generational barriers Indian girls.
Saba's impact on the communities she serves has not gone unnoticed. She earned a scholarship from Kick Off Solutions, an Indo-American non-profit that enables underprivileged girls to become leaders through sports. She also represented the OSCAR Foundation at the Goals for Girls summit in 2019 in Nagpur India, which convenes young female leaders from diverse backgrounds. Saba’s Walking Football project was also recognized and supported by Reap Benefit, an organization that nurtures individual civic community projects.
Saba’s Courageous Use of Sport Award means a lot to her. "I'm extremely honored to be receiving such an important award. I'm honestly grateful for it and its recognization of the vision for my work. This award gave me validation and boosted my confidence. I feel the blessing of women who supported my ideas and trusted the process.”
Despite facing numerous obstacles including financial difficulties, family restrictions and low grades, Saba has successfully graduated and is excited to embark on her next journey in pursuit of a Masters degree. Her dream is to be an Investment Banker with a financial firm such as JP Morgan, Citibank and Goldman Sachs. The accompanying grant from this award will go towards Saba’s education fees, help support her Kick Like a Girl training from the OSCAR Foundation and allow her to expand Walking Football.
Congratulations Saba!