Sports, Nutrition and Poverty

Imagine yourself as a teenage boy living in a slum. You have no money and neither does your family; Therefore, you cannot go to school. You are hungry. You have settled to the conditions of the slum because you do not know of any better life. Your ambitions are undermined by the depressing conditions surrounding you.

One day, a person invites you to learn how to play basketball. Though you didn't have an interest in basketball before, you are excited by this new opportunity. You don’t instantly become good at the sport, but you do acquire new personal traits that have never before been introduced: Motivation. Persistence. Focus. Competition. Sportsmanship. Suddenly, you are motivated by your coach and by your team, and you learn the value of motivating others. With deliberate practice and coaching, the same traits could be applied towards other areas of your life.

Imagine yourself as a teenage girl living in a slum. You do not feel well, but have succumbed to just avoiding the pain inside your system because you have no money. An outsider is visiting your neighborhood to conduct a special workshop for teenage girls. She educates you on different topics such as the reproductive system, hygiene, and what not to eat. It’s fun! She even gives you hygienic supplies and a small book on how to stay healthy. And just like that, you have obtained knowledge on how to care for yourself and those around you. Furthermore, you pro-actively seek assistance for the questionable pain that is inside you.

Can sports and nutrition contribute to the battle in eliminating extreme poverty? Yes! Go! Believes that they can!

Sports is a powerful motivational tool for developing leadership skills, sportsmanship and well-being. Furthermore, the knowledge and participation of a sport promotes team-work, encourages talent, saves lives, and most of all creates a fun and positive environment.

Nutrition, and the knowledge of, is essential for develop healthy minds and healthy bodies. Understanding its value can introduce pro-activeness in the individual, particularly for younger women and children.

Ultimately, both sports and nutritional education can increase an individual’s belief in their capacity, and propensity to achieve.

 

Our Story

Go! Sports Foundation is a registered NGO based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It was founded by Kristie Manalo Wilson, who conceptualized the notion of promoting healthy lives through the means of nutrition and sports while visiting a small, but healthy and sustainable island in the Southern part of the Philippines.

After two years of learning more about the sports and nutritional culture across several developing regions such as Venezuela, West Africa, Central and South East Asia – Kristie decided to enact on the concept by creating Go! Sports Foundation in May 2009. While she did not have an immediate line of projects to support, she had a mission, and was ready to Go! for it.

 

Our Mission

Our mission is quite simple: To enrich communities and lives through the means of sports and nutritional education. Go! would like to Go! for our mission through the means of:

• Networking with NGOs who are combating poverty, and assist them in implementing projects/programs pertaining to sports and health education.
• Organizing at least 1 sports education-related program per year in line with the annual strategic focus.

Our 2010 Strategy

Go!’s 2010 Strategy aims to focus on the nutritional and sports development Young Women and Girls. Go! is taking part of this global campaign endorsed by larger organizations such as the Nike Foundation and Oprah Winfrey Foundation. Once a full team is developed, and partnerships have been established with other NGOs, Go! would like to implement an aggressive fundraising and awareness campaign to inspire, instigate and to impact worldwide.

 

Our Team

Go! is lead by a team of energetic and passionate individuals scattered across the globe. At Go! we believe that location is not a hindrance to achieving its mission, but rather a strategic method for supporting our message and our partners' messages worldwide!

Kristie Manalo-Wilson
Managing Director / Co-Founder

Amrita Srivastava
Director of Finance

Carla Mangonon Moore
Officer for Health and Nutrition

Alexandra Ott
Public Relations Officer

Parag Gupta
Officer for Digital Communications

 

Contact Us

Go!'s headquarters are based in Amsterdam, but is joined and supported by a global network. Our address is:

188-I Haarlemmerdijk
1013 JK, Amsterdam
The Netherlands

If you are interested in becoming involved, whether as a team member, an ambassador, a corporate or private donor or a partnered NGO, please contact us via email or phone: go@gosportsfoundation.com / +31 6 3904 3955.