free-play session where the children can
Dr. Pugazhendi says, “Many educational
pretty much play any game they want,
institutions do not encourage sport par-
or they may participate in an active sport
ticipation for the sake of fitness and fun.
like Basketball.
They make parents believe that it would
Is this enough? Chandra Nagarajan, Senior Vice Principal of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan T.Nagar branch says, “Besides the Physical Education Class and the sessions organised by Edusports, we have made swimming mandatory for our students from Class 3 upwards. Swimming is also a survival skill.” Many schools do encourage their students who are achievers in sports. For instance, for the swimming siblings, A.V. Jaywant and Jayaveena, their school, Chettinad Vidyashram has relaxed the mandatory attendance requirement. The children study on their own and their teachers enable them in every way possible. Kamala Ravindran, the Headmis-
only be a distraction for educational ambitions, which is untrue.” EduSports, a Bangalore-based company addresses this very need. The organisation's objective is to equip children with the right skills at the right age, so that they get a head-start to many forms of active sports that they could play for life.
Body Mass Index (BMI) is one of the key indicators of overall fitness of an individual. While a high BMI is related directly to obesity-related malaise, low BMI ratios have a direct correlation to immunity-related malaise, both of which are not desirable. The recommended BMI
Edusports partners with schools which
for children between the ages of 5
believe that education is incomplete
and 14 is in the range of 19-25.
without sports. It runs for the school, the entire PE period in the timetable with a planned curriculum - complete with lessons, props, assessments and parent interactions. Says its CEO Saumil
In a study conducted by EduSports in 2010 among 4098 children surveyed across India, 42 per cent did not possess ideal BMI ratios.
Majumdar, “How would you expect your child to be taught maths? That's exactly what we do with physical education.”
importance of sports to their children. The child may show great promise in a
tress says, “When some of our students
Children are taught basic skills that are
sport, but could be tempted to switch
have to travel abroad for sports coaching
age-appropriate and non-competitive.
over to an easier sport because of his
during the school term, we explore meth-
This could be crawling, learning to walk
peers or because he is being trained a
ods like online teaching.” In fact, most
sideways, jumping over small obsta-
little harder to achieve more. Any child
schools in Chennai boast of alumni who
cles or dribbling a ball. This equips a
would like an easier choice - nobody
have gone on to become National level
child much better at a later stage if he
likes controlled training.
sportspersons.
chooses to take up a sport with a serious
Schools and basic sporting skills What about the child who is not an achiever just yet, who is still trying out different sports and has not yet reached a high level of proficiency? In some cases, if the school is focussed mainly on the competitive sports or on academic prowess only, the sedentary ones and the mildly sport-interested ones may
intent.
But the training teaches the child in the long run that you have to go through
Parents and Sports To press the sports button How does one even begin to influence a sedentary child or a child who has not played active sports?
some pain to reap some benefits. This is where parents have to be firm and guide the child to put in that little extra effort. Parents should also assist the child in balancing time between academics and sports.” Krithika Mouli, a parent, says, “One way to find out what sport suits the child is to enroll her in some classes and see if
lose out on some basic age-appropriate
B Girish, a swimming coach says, “At
she takes to it. Usually, the first recogni-
physical skills.
the outset, parents need to explain the
tion among peers is a defining
Fitness for the family, with fun
If children do not take to organised sports, certain things can still be done together as a family for fitness, fun and bonding. For example, activities like hiking, cycling, running, swimming, badminton, frisbee on the beach and others. Even playing games like Hide and Seek, Catch, Hopscotch, Jump rope with younger children would be great, if the parents could cope up with these activities without getting breathless. You can even play music and dance together as a family!
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