Sportz Village: Having fun is serious business

Prajjal Saha
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BANGALORE, October 21

Ask all those kids you bump into while coming or going out of your apartment what games they like to play. Seven out of 10 will tell you Motorcross Madness, Need for Speed or Age of Mythology.

Yes, these are all names of some popular computer games, which the city dwelling, net-savvy kids are hooked on to. Lack of playgrounds, both in schools and in residential colonies (playgrounds have been turned into ornamental gardens and parks) and the popularity of Internet and computers have made kids almost apathetic to outdoor games.

But then not everyone would just throw his/her hands up in frustration and say this is inevitable, unstoppable or irreversible.

To foster interest among kids in outdoor games and sports, a new school has been set up in the city of Bangalore, called Sportz Village. This state-of-the-art school provides an opportunity to young people to indulge in physical activities and develop physical and social skills. The core programme of this sports school ensures that children are mentored in at least six different team sports - cricket, soccer, volleyball, basketball, netball and handball. It also encourages games like hockey, kabaddi, kho-kho, frisbee etc. Apart from these, it also has additional seasonal courses on rock climbing and trekking.

The sports school is the brainchild of three friends - B Jayashankar, Saumil Majmudar and Jitendra Joshi. Says Jayashankar, partner, Sportz Village, "After many an idea we found that Sports was the only common factor all of us agreed upon. Sports was also very uplifting and filled us with immense energy and passion. We got together and after over two months of research we created a business plan, raised money through family and friends and started Sportz Village in September 2003."

Although it's still too early, the promoters of Sportz Village claim the initial response has been "very encouraging". Within a month of starting operations, Sportz Village signed on 100 members. The school management hopes to add a minimum of 500 students within a year.

So what is the USP of Sportz Village?

Sportz Village is unique and different from other sports training schools, as it does not intend providing training at a professional level. At Sportz Village the philosophy is "to make sure that children enjoy a variety of sports and experience the joy of sport". The school has hired professionals and coaches - who may not be of the same caliber as the trainers of professional sportsmen - but who have the ability to interact with children and instill in them some basic sporting skills.

Before the coaches are put on work, they are put through a training programme devised by Dr George Selleck - equity holder and advisor at Sportz Village - who has more than 40 years of experience as a counselor, educator, author, coach, referee and athlete. Dr Sellek is cofounder of Parents for Good Sports - a nonprofit organisation created to help parents patronise good sports. Says Sellek, "This concept is fantastic because it uses sports as a medium for building communities."

The school plans to reach a wide section of the society. Targeting the five-to-15 year-old children from SEC ABC, the fee has been structured accordingly. Says Jayashankar, "We have tried to keep our programmes as affordable as possible." The fee structure, based on the duration of the course, is something like this. For three-month duration, the fee is Rs 475 per month and for 15 and 30 months, the fees are Rs 380 per month and Rs 317 per month respectively.

To reach the lower SEC families, the school is also working with corporates to build a fund that can sponsor children from the poorer sections of the society. Says Jayashankar, "We would like to use the funds to adopt a few Government schools and under-privileged children from other institutions."

With the growing trend of both parents working, a concept like Sportz Village can help rewrite a few rules in the field of education and sports. While Sportz Village plans to introduce some new courses such as Yoga for Kids, Karate and Dance, it is also exploring options to set up branches in other cities. The next possible destination is Mumbai with 10 other cities to follow.