The pioneers who transform sports enthusiasts to amateur sportsmen and drive them towards competitive sports: Bayside Sports

We provide families with the opportunity to return to sports as amateur sportsmen and experience the joy of playing on professional grounds with official rules and regulations.

The Sports industry in India is sought after as people are now focusing on their health and fitness and choosing to pursue a sport of their choice with their family and friends. Moreover, with the advent of technology children are shying away from outdoor recreation activities; hence, parents are ensuring they engage them in sports and other activities that will help hone their personality and teach them a new skill.

Mumbai based Bayside Sports is encouraging families to come together and play sport by hosting a variety of tournaments for Cricket, Football, Throwball, and more. Recently, the company began operations in Pune and soon intends to expand across Jaipur, Chennai, Delhi, and a few key metros.

Furthermore, it has also partnered with the Tendulkar Middlesex Global Academy to host Cricket Camps across Mumbai and Pune. However, the pivotal moment in the company’s history was when Mr. Anand Mahindra, the Chairman of the Mahindra Group, invested in Bayside Sports, making him one of the first investors!

The Inception of Bayside Sports

In January 2013, Bayside Sports began with the founders coaching 5 children in Cricket, every Saturday at Cross Maidan in Mumbai. By May that year, the Bayside Sports Cricket Academy grew to 100 students and had over 250 students in tier one. While Bayside Sports coached students, their parents who visited them during practice sessions often expressed their eagerness to return back to the sport and rekindle their passion! Addressing their interest, the founders of Bayside Sports decided to host the “Bayside Sports School Dads Cricket Championship”, their first flagship tournament that saw school dads represent their child’s school in a T-20 Cricket tournament. Further to its huge success, they hosted the “Bayside Sports School Mums Throwball Championship”, “Bayside Sports Grandads Legacy Carrom Championship”, “Bayside Sports Grandmums Quizathon” and other tournaments for family and friends.

Be it the Bayside Sports Cricket Academy, Bayside Sports School Dads Cricket Championship, Summer Slam or others, each of the company’s tournaments and academies have been well received and extolled by mum, dads, grandparents, and children.

Since its establishment, Bayside Sports has coached over 2,500 students in cricket and recently began the Bayside Sports Football Academy. Additionally, over 2000 dads, mums, grandads, and grandmums have participated across various tournaments conceptualized and hosted by Bayside Sports. One of the founders of Bayside Sports, Vishal Gopal Gokani says, “It is endearing to receive such an overwhelming response from several families for providing them the opportunity to pursue sport and relive their childhood memories.”

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going

Every company faces challenges on the road to glory. Initially, Bayside Sports had challenges availing the best of infrastructure to provide players the adequate facilities to play like a professional. It meant availing professional cricket grounds, hiring professional coaches and providing the best sports equipment. And all of these needed substantial financial investments. Being a self-funded start-up, the company faced financial challenges and constraints, though it managed to overcome the same by adequately managing its expenses in the initial years and securing external investment to expand their footprint.

Furthermore, recruitment and allotment of human resources to meet various tournament needs, finding ground facilities that meet professional play criteria, and plagiarism of Bayside Sports’ tournament formats are few of the constant challenges that they encounter and resolve.

The Future Roadmap of Bayside Sports

Bayside Sports has always stayed true to its core value: to build amateur sports communities in India. The team always ensures that it offers mums, dads, grandparents, and children every assistance needed to participate and enjoy their tournaments. From providing coaches, offering a variety of formats to play, helping players network to form teams or simply gratifying teams by awarding them with medals and trophies, Bayside Sports does it all to make amateurs feel like professionals!

Bayside Sports aims to better its tournaments and coaching in Mumbai as well as take the “Bayside Sports School Dads

Cricket Championship” overseas and host a World Cup by 2023. The company intends to host more tournaments, introduce

new sports and enhance the quality of coaching. Vishal Gokani concludes by saying, “Our future plan is to grow our brand footprint across the country and take our tournaments across the world.”

Illustration of Success: Clientele Testimonies

“Bayside Sports has been absolutely phenomenal! It has not only helped me reconnect with the sport that I love the most (Cricket) but has also contributed significantly to improving my fitness level through the medium of sports. It’s been a whole lot of fun and extremely competitive at the same time. I am very proud and happy to be associated with Bayside Sports and wish them the very best of luck for all their current and future endeavors!” - Sameer Shirali.

“My association with Bayside Sports started in 2015. I was referred by my friend who told me that Bayside Sports provides a platform for amateur cricketers like me. Bayside Sports got Cricket back in my life and thereafter there has been no looking back. 2017/2018 season was loaded with Cricket and Summer T-20 tournament was like icing on the cake before the season ended due to monsoon. I had an awesome experience and my team, Jaguars, is glad to be playing such an event. Thank you Bayside Sports for the awesome management and great teamwork!” - Mehul Shah.

A Brief Background of Vishal Gokani

Vishal Gokani has completed his schooling from Mumbai and Panchgani and holds a graduate degree from the Mumbai University. He used to be a financial advisor and contribute to his family business until 2012.

“We have seen dads and mums return to the ground after decades to play their first ever competitive tournament or begin training to become fit to play the next tournament. Such has been the response that we have initiated new formats and tournaments to meet the repeated requests from our players!”