Sport, as it has been said, should be a bridge straddling social, economic and geographic boundaries. Sadly, even in the 21st century there are many barriers to this noble goal. The great thing is that true sports lovers will act as catalysts to remove these barriers. It has been proven over centuries that sports patrons all over the world have been instrumental in creating a bright future for talented and committed sportspersons to excel and improve their quality of life, both from a social and economic front . As an example, cricketing evolution is replete with examples of how landlords and gentry in England employed talented cricketers and provided a platform for them to focus on their game, just as Indian royalty patronised talented cricketers to use the sport towards greatness.
Success in sports has created ecosystems around the people who have achieved sustainability with sport as a career and spawned many successes in that ecosystem. We believe that this has a great impact on the society from where they come, specifically as inspirational examples of what they can achieve.
Today more than ever, sport is in the consciousness of the society, be it local, national or international. Sport has been institutionalised both through public and private funding, and more and more parents are looking to sport as real career compared to previous years. CBB aims to take this consciousness beyond the middle classes and bring it to those in underprivileged situations.
While direct institutional funding and selective sponsorships exist as part of many public and private programs, we believe that they provide a basic platform of sustenance that is mass driven and, while not directing blame towards them, we feel they fail to tackle individual development beyond the basic skills, and more specifically the all-round development of a candidate. Especially for people from an underprivileged background, this may prove to be one bridge too far – and there are many examples of talented sports persons who could not quite make it to top levels.