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To be a sport
| Playing a game is not about winning and losing. It's about
fun and learning to work as a team. This is the spirit that
drives Sportz Village |
Sportz Village plans to have inter-school
competitions and offer package deals for schools.
PLAYING IS the fundamental right of a child
recognised by the UNICEF Charter. But does the present generation
get as many opportunities to play as we did in our childhood?
Children today find very few playgrounds, thanks to our cities
turning into concrete jungles. Children have no option but to play
on the streets, which can be hazardous.
But unfortunately, in our country, very few
institutions or individuals have given serious thought to this
problem. Sportz Village, an organisation floated in September, is
certainly making a sincere endeavour to address the basic right of
children to play in a safe and secure environment and grow as
healthy adults.
The Sportz Village team is managed by three
seasoned pros from different walks of life B. Jayashankar, Saumil
Majumdar, and Jitendra Joshi. They have put up the Sportz Village at
HSR Layout in the city. It offers a safe and well-equipped place to
play and the programme emphasises on the fun aspect of sports. It
also aims to introduce sports as a way of life and help positive
character building among children.
According to Sportz Village authorities, the idea
is also to provide more opportunities for children to play team
sports, rather than individual sports such as tennis, badminton
etc.. They reason team sports build social skills and inculcate team
spirit. Sportz Village offers games such as football, basketball,
cricket, handball, and basketball as part of its programme. All
these games help in developing physical and mental skills, improve
hand and eye coordination and, of course, cultivate team spirit.
While the focus is basically on Olympic Sports, Sportz Village also
encourages participation in games such as kabaddi, Frisbee, and kho
kho.
On the advisory board of the Sportz Village is Dr.
George A. Selleck, a noted psychologist and management and
organisational consultant with 40 years of experience and a
recipient of the prestigious Distinguished Services Award from
California State Athletic Directors Association. Selleck is also the
author of several books including How to Play the Game of your
Life and From Bleachers with Love: Advice to Parents with
Kids in Sports. He is also the founder of Sports for Life Inc..
Selleck's guidance has given Sportz Village a cutting edge.
According to Mr. Jayashankar, the Director, Selleck
has provided the right structure for the Sportz Village. "He has
given us valuable inputs in monitoring the children's progress and
how to get parents involved in their activities," he says. Mr.
Jayashankar was enthused by the response to Sports Villages concept.
"We have 80 kids with us now and it will go up to 100 by the end of
the month. Our accent is more on fun and overall development, rather
than making a champion out of each of them. This is precisely what
other sports academies have been doing and there is pressure on kids
and quite a few of them drop out, overloaded with expectations and
trying to reach benchmarks. We have quite a few children who are
dropouts from such institutions,'' he says.
Down the road, Sportz Village plans to have
inter-school competitions and offer package deals for schools. Plans
are also afoot to rope in the corporates, their employees and
children, to try out sports purely as fun. "We do not have set
goals. As Dr. Selleck has rightly said, sports is a journey. Enjoy
it as long as it lasts!" concludes Mr. Jayashankar.
KHALYAN N. ASHOK
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