#GilliDanda - Reliving the tradition

Photo on <a href="https://visualhunt.com/re/1c575b">VisualHunt.com</a>

Son of the soil sports in India

As I begin sharing this article which harps upon a high-level plan to promote #GilliDanda in India, I would like to thank Mr. Prashant Yeole for inspiring me to write about the sport, and provide some necessary impetus for the game on social media. I have heard and learnt that this was one of the most beloved games of kids, before the tech disruption age happened.

Gilli Danda (Stick Hit Trick) is an almost defunct, centuries old Indian sport game, which has unfortunately not been able to stand the test of times. This sport, generally played in the dingy, crowded by-lanes of India and neighboring countries, invites voracious laughs and cackles in equal measure. 

Vision: 

To relive an era gone by and promote this sport among the millennial crowd and Gen Z as well, who have titled towards cash rich and super stylized sports. 

Mission: 

To retain the element of fun, while ensuring the game of #GilliDanda grabs eye balls

Approach: 

Grass-root level weekly contests, mixed group contests and double player team contests 

Method: 

(I) Encourage parents and grandparents to be an advocate of the sport, by engaging in awareness sessions 

(II) Creating a pool of young talent, by selecting kids, based on fitness tests. The fitness tests could involve action-reaction duels, precision and endurance tests

(III) Divide contests from a pool of kids, by scheduling Round Robin, Knockout, Quarter Final (QF), Semi Final (SF), and Grand Finale stages. Each game will be divided into sets of 3 each (best of 2), where lesser the number of moves to strike the ticker, better are the chances of winning. In the doubles and mixed doubles contests, 5 sets each to be scheduled to select the winner of each contest (best of 3)

(IV) Winner of each round to be remunerated with a cash bonus of INR 50/-. Winners have the option of putting it in the potluck to win a larger cash prize towards the end

(V) Scheduling sponsor-ships by encouraging local dairy, sweetmeat and snack makers to sell their produce at events. This will allow in purchasing sticks and tickers of good quality and improve local visibility of the game. Donating 5-10 percent of money to NGOs, as a social responsibility initiative

(VI) Using effective social media channels to promote the event through Facebook Live, Periscope and having instant updates on Instagram. Social calendar creation to ensure proper messaging during the events

Outcome(s): 

Improved status of the game in the eyes of the young crowd, better reach through social media and free/paid publicity for sponsors. 

Miscellaneous: 

Success mapping of locality based contests, will help determine co-creation of zonal, city and state wide contests. 

I'd love for investors, sports enthusiasts and investors to read through this article and dive into the possible potential of reviving the sport. #GilliDanda does have a lot to offer and it would be wonderful to make it more mainstream.

#IndiaLovesSports by @harryrockerz