Where Am I Giving: A Global Adventure Exploring How to Use Your Gifts and Talents to Make a Difference

17Start Small (India, 2017): Locals challenging societal norms / Creating leaders / The girl effect

I'M A 38-YEAR-OLD MAN, but there was only so much pushing I'd take from a 12-year-old girl on the soccer field before I decided to push back. Sure, I outweighed her by a hundred pounds, but she had it coming. The key was to push her just enough to make a point– stop her from being a meanie – and to not send her facedown into the mud.

It was my last night in India with the OSCAR Foundation, and I decided to practice with the only team that I thought would not make me look like an idiot – the beginner girls' team. I thought wrong.

Imagine a competitive elephant playing soccer with small children. That's how I felt. The smallest girl on our tiny field kept stealing the ball from me and laughing as she did. My teammates stopped passing me the ball, and it wasn't because I was from another country, caste, or religion; it was because I was a horrible player.

There are 1,200 girls in OSCAR's programming, and the organization is starting a new program called Kick Like a Girl. Fifty-two girls participate in the residential training program learning the game of football and all are getting to better know themselves. Many girls in the community don't leave their homes, other than to go to school. The residential program gives them a chance to connect around the issues they face and to realize that they aren't alone. The girls even organized a Women's Day tournament all on their own and ...