I am Mukesh. I am 17 years-old and in class 12. At home I have one younger brother and my mum. Mum looks after us and works as a house cleaner in local apartments.
When I was younger, I didn’t have so many friends to play with. Nobody wanted to play with a fat guy who didn’t even run properly. My routine was school to home. I always wanted to play sport. I used to watch football and other sports as well.
One day I saw lot children wearing the same T-shirt and it was looking good – Khelo Rugby was written on it. I asked one of the boys from my area where he got this T-shirt. He said one person comes to train us every week. I went and saw a lot of children playing with this egg-shaped ball, it was very interesting to watch and I wanted to play as well.
As soon as I joined I was welcomed, I felt anyone could play rugby if you are fat, tall, thin, short – it doesn’t matter and you can still play. That was a big turning moment for me to show what can I do and how capable I am. Khelo Rugby has helped me to build my confidence, as well as learning a new sport, I now help lots of other children in my locality.
Now I am a Young Leader in Khelo Rugby. I have also got the chance to do an internship with Decathlon, which helps me a lot. I look after my community children, encouraging more and more children to be part of our amazing organisation and sport. What I have got I want to share with others and give them opportunity to do better in life.
