10+ years of experience

training players, coaches and Indian non-profit organizations in the soft skills of building mixed-gender teams

Since 2014

Transformational Sports (TS) was formally registered in 2016 as a non-profit organization in the United States, but unofficially, TS had already seen its beginnings through sports and gender-based camps in India since 2014. The need to leverage its potential with a formal organizational structure and active funding was a result of the success seen in those early camps, where sports became a powerful tool to talk to both young women and men about gender roles and gender equity, especially in societies where women are traditionally not encouraged to play sports, or where sports is considered a predominantly male endeavor.

Our mission is to advance gender equity through mixed-gender sports

The Transformational Sports Method

We mentor coaches and facilitators to adapt the Transformational Sports method for their sports sessions:



Make It balanced

Youth sports faces drop-outs when practices either become too competitive or lack focus. We teach coaches how to strike the right balance between fun and competition in each practice session.

Make it safe

We train coaches on how to ensure sports practice sessions are a safe space for all players. Plus, we believe practice isn’t over until every player reaches home safely.



Make it "truly" mixed-gender

We train coaches on how to make small incremental changes to their practice sessions so that players across genders can work together better and move past the everyday realities of shyness, gender stereotypes, and norms.



Make it better each time

We encourage coaches to reflect after each of their sports sessions to improve the players experience for the next time regarding balance, safety and equality.

Why Mixed-Gender

(Co-Ed) Sports?

We are asked this question many times, especially in India, since our programs are designed as “mixed-gender” programs amidst a vast sea of single-gender programs. Gender stereotypes and inequities persist across the world and we believe that gender-based programs these days have become synonymous with empowerment of girls and women, rather than all genders. In order to change deeply-set mindsets in society, we need youth to play together, to take up the same space, and to learn from each other, rather than separately. Mixed-gender sports, if facilitated well, teach us how to interact respectfully, sensitively and empathetically with those different from us. It means we can move society forward, together, rather than separately.

Our Team

We work with a talented and passionate project-based staff, along with equally passionate and committed volunteers who take part in our programs as sports coaches, facilitators, and organizers.

Liz Haynes

Director & Facilitator

Liz, raised in the U.S., has lived, played and coached in India since 2013. She has a passion for developing sports and gender curriculum for young people. She has created sports & gender immersion camps, coach trainings, fellowships, social action labs and rural sports outreach programs all with the sole focus of advancing gender equity through mixed-gender sports programs.

Benoy Stephen

Program Manager & Facilitator

Benoy joined TS in 2017 as a Bridging the Gaps fellow and became passionate about breaking gender barriers. He completed the Teach for India fellowship in 2018 and co-founded Y-Ultimate, a young not-for-profit that uses the sport of ultimate frisbee to build life skills in children, especially those from marginalised backgrounds. He is currently also a player and mentor at GK MAD, an ultimate frisbee club team in Delhi.

Suprabha Hosamane

Strategy Officer & Curriculum Developer

Suprabha is an entrepreneur from Chennai who began her journey with sports only in high school, after a childhood where she wasn’t encouraged to take an interest in sports. She has now competed in tournaments, captained teams and also been a coach for youth teams. Her goal is to help create supportive environments so that all children can grow up to have the opportunity to play and grow up with healthy lifestyles.

Nimisha Vasava

Facilitator

Nimisha is an ultimate frisbee player and has represented India internationally six times as both a player and a coach. Nimisha began her journey with Transformational Sports in 2014 serving as a coach at Bridging the Gaps (BTG) camps in Auroville. She has come back as a coach for three more BTG camps (Surat, Lucknow and Ahmadabad) and now serves as a facilitator for coach training programs. She also coaches ultimate frisbee at several colleges in Ahmadabad.

Rakesh Anandan

Facilitator

Rakesh is a volleyball player and fitness trainer who has facilitated thousands of classes of mixed-gender adults and young people. He has also been tasked with training a number of teenage athletes in their quest to become professional sports persons and believes strongly in the empowerment of Indian female athletes. Since 2018, Rakesh has worked with Transformational Sports as a facilitator and curriculum builder.

Join our mailing list

Never miss an update from Transformational Sports.

Join our mailing list

Never miss an update from Transformational Sports.