SPORTS FOR SUPPORT: HOW ONE HIGH SCHOOLER IS MAKING AN IMPACT

Kyle Gabriel
- Feb 28
- 2 min read

Picture this…on a sunny Sunday afternoon for some reason you’re feeling surprisingly productive. You decide to go out to your garage and finally sort through all of those old things you bought with good intentions but no longer use. Five minutes and the frightening sight of your own personal Mount Everest of stuff is all it takes for you to be reminded why exactly you’ve been putting this task off. With a deep breath, you gather your courage and soldier on with determination, saying to yourself “It’s now or never.”

Picture this…on a sunny Sunday afternoon for some reason you’re feeling surprisingly productive. You decide to go out to your garage and finally sort through all of those old things you bought with good intentions but no longer use. Five minutes and the frightening sight of your own personal Mount Everest of stuff is all it takes for you to be reminded why exactly you’ve been putting this task off. With a deep breath, you gather your courage and soldier on with determination, saying to yourself “It’s now or never.”

As you thoroughly and painstakingly go through all that stuff you notice for the first time that you have so much sports equipment, all in good condition that can still be used. You then realize that you are never going to actually use it. A thought comes to you, “I should give these to someone who’d be able to make better use of it. It would be such a waste for them to stay here. If only there was a way for me to donate these sports equipment to the people who will actually use them.”

	Your gaze hovers over them in contemplation when a light bulb suddenly dings in your head. You remember that you listened to the Real Estate Runway Podcast and that a guest on one of the episodes had the exact answer to your dilemma. A quick search through your phone shows the exact details you’re looking for and satisfaction fills you as you type out your message knowing that soon your gently loved athletic equipment would find a new home in the right hands. This scenario, well the first part of it at least, is one that is not completely foreign to several households in America. Senior high school student, Ayesha Khanna, was also faced with this same dilemma. Seeing no particular solution to her problem, she decided to solve the problem herself. In the space of her home, Ayesha Khanna started Sports for Support- a non-profit organization dedicated to redistributing unused sports equipment from those who have it to those who need it.

Your gaze hovers over them in contemplation when a light bulb suddenly dings in your head. You remember that you listened to the Real Estate Runway Podcast and that a guest on one of the episodes had the exact answer to your dilemma. A quick search through your phone shows the exact details you’re looking for and satisfaction fills you as you type out your message knowing that soon your gently loved athletic equipment would find a new home in the right hands. This scenario, well the first part of it at least, is one that is not completely foreign to several households in America. Senior high school student, Ayesha Khanna, was also faced with this same dilemma. Seeing no particular solution to her problem, she decided to solve the problem herself. In the space of her home, Ayesha Khanna started Sports for Support- a non-profit organization dedicated to redistributing unused sports equipment from those who have it to those who need it.

The Real Estate Runway Podcast had the privilege of having her as a guest on the show and learned all about this remarkable individual and her awesome philanthropy.

Ayesha Khanna comes from a family of avid sports players and has had her fair share of experiences in several sports such as soccer, basketball, tennis, swimming, Taekwondo, golf and more.

In describing the importance and relevance of sports Ayesha says, “sports teach you a lot in terms of working as a team, how to be an effective leader, how to be an effective member of a team. Like patience, especially through golf, it takes a lot of patience. How to control your mind, stuff like that. And I think it's a great and fun way to learn a lot of things that can't necessarily be taught in any other way.” Ayesha believes that sports play a role in teaching honesty and integrity. With the importance of sports to a child’s growth in mind, Ayesha decided to start her non-profit organization with the aim of bringing accessibility to sports equipment to more children. While it may sound simple, Ayesha explains that building a non-profit requires a lot of effort, paperwork, responsibility, and accountability. Coordinating with your community, with parents and school leaders, making sure that the equipment you give out is clean and usable; none of it is as easy as it sounds and does require a lot of thought and effort. Ayesha also declares that it is important to have a capable team to help out with all of these and is immensely grateful to her own amazing team’s effort and contribution to the organization. And all those who would like to support her cause can donate through their website- sportsforsupport.org. Using every last bit of donation for this cause and with no personal profit whatsoever, Ayesha and her team tirelessly work together with the aim of bringing the accessibility and joys of sports to those who need it.

In describing the importance and relevance of sports Ayesha says, “sports teach you a lot in terms of working as a team, how to be an effective leader, how to be an effective member of a team. Like patience, especially through golf, it takes a lot of patience. How to control your mind, stuff like that. And I think it's a great and fun way to learn a lot of things that can't necessarily be taught in any other way.” Ayesha believes that sports play a role in teaching honesty and integrity. With the importance of sports to a child’s growth in mind, Ayesha decided to start her non-profit organization with the aim of bringing accessibility to sports equipment to more children.

While it may sound simple, Ayesha explains that building a non-profit requires a lot of effort, paperwork, responsibility, and accountability. Coordinating with your community, with parents and school leaders, making sure that the equipment you give out is clean and usable; none of it is as easy as it sounds and does require a lot of thought and effort. Ayesha also declares that it is important to have a capable team to help out with all of these and is immensely grateful to her own amazing team’s effort and contribution to the organization. And all those who would like to support her cause can donate through their website- sportsforsupport.org. Using every last bit of donation for this cause and with no personal profit whatsoever, Ayesha and her team tirelessly work together with the aim of bringing the accessibility and joys of sports to those who need it.

For Ayesha, the rewards are indeed worth it. Seeing the smiles on the children’s faces and the spark of joy, passion, and determination it ignites within them makes it all worth it.

When asked about what she believes is her superpower, Ayesha says that she is an executor. It may be easy for most people to have an idea but to actually put in the work and make it into reality is something that not many are able to do. It requires effort, consistency, attention to detail and much more. This one high school student has shown that with persistence, determination, a great team, and clear goal nothing is impossible.

We really had a blast interviewing and learning from this amazing individual. If you want to catch the full-length video of this podcast, click the link below:

https://www.thequattroway.com/rer-podcast/podcast-ayesha-khanna

If you want to follow them on Instagram, click here. If you would like to donate to their cause, click here. If you would like to visit their website to see what events they have put on lately, click here.

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