India Brings Home the Laureus Sport for Good Award

In a significant achievement for India and for the category of Sport for Social Development, Magic Bus, one of India’s leading non-profit organizations brought home the coveted Laureus Sport for Good Award today.

Edwin Moses, Chairman, Laureus Sports for Good Foundation, presented the award to Magic Bus Founder and Chairman, Matthew Spacie. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Spacie said, "Fifteen years ago, Magic Bus was started because outside my office there lived some street boys who wanted to change their journey in life. Today Magic Bus has lakhs of children attending our programme. We take children on a journey from childhood all the way to livelihood and out of poverty."

Receiving this award is a special moment in the history of sport for development in India. Magic Bus supports over 250,000 children in their programme across 17 states, and has a mentor and volunteer network of 8000 youth. Magic Bus uses sports and activities as the mechanism to mentor children and youth out of poverty. The Magic Bus programme is a game-changer in an environment where these quarter million children would not have an opportunity to break out of the poverty cycle and realise their potential. “It is such an important time to be working in India. We have 700 million people who live below the poverty line, 60% of our children do not finish school. We see the award as a great tribute to the use of sport for good. This is a magical moment for us,” said Mr. Spacie.

Laureus is a worldwide organization, comprising of the Laureus World Sports Academy, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and the Laureus World Sports Awards, which collectively harness the power of sport to promote social change and celebrate sporting excellence.

Magic Bus is a Laureus Sport for Good Foundation partner since 2012.