19 August,2018 12:00 PM IST | Mumbai | Anju Maskeri
Children practise wrestling at Vikhroli's MPS School. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Till about eight months ago, the sprawling assembly hall at the municipal-run Varsha Nagar MPS School in Vikhroli, barely saw footfall. Today, it's one of the busiest sections on the premises, teeming with children practising tumbling exercises, pinning drills and other wrestling moves on the mats. The transformation is the result of a new initiative by Heed India, an NGO that has started providing training in various sports including boxing, kabbadi, handball, taekwondo, table tennis and basketball to students across 25 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools.
"On the first day, only nine students turned up. Today, we have over 50 and the number is only growing. In fact, there hasn't been a single dropout," says Ramesh Dhotre, head coach and a national-level basketball player, who is responsible for overseeing activities across the BMC schools that have enrolled for this programme. Currently, the programme caters to students from Std V to Std X.
Not all BMC schools have the advantage of training space. At Kandivli's Akurli Municipal School (above) students train in the corridor
Heed India, which specialises in healthcare for underprivileged children, launched the campaign in April this year. Currently, they have 45 coaches on board, who along with BMC-hired PT teachers, train 2,300 municipal school students. The team has allocated two sports activities per school depending on the infrastructure available, and the interest among the students. At the Vikhroli school, boxing and wrestling sessions are held thrice a week between 11 am and 1 pm. "At the outset, we identified around 23,000 students and narrowed it down to 2,300. These were students who qualified for advanced training," says trustee and marathoner Jignesh Barasara, who launched the campaign with fellow trustee and marathoner, Vijayalakshmi Balakrishnan.
Vijayalakshmi Balakrishnan, Heed India trustee
The homework for the project started in January this year when the NGO decided to go beyond the existing healthcare initiatives. Being runners themselves, the duo was aware of the positive impact of sports on health and general wellbeing. "When we conducted research on the sporting activity in BMC schools, there was little to show apart from the routine PT exercises. Since we were inclined towards running, athletics seemed like a good sport to introduce," says Barasara.
Coach Ramesh Dhotre (centre) with marathoners and Heed India trustees, Jignesh Barasara (left) and Vijayalakshmi Balakrishnan. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Specialised training
When they approached Rameshwar Lohe, head of the BMC's physical education department, the response was overwhelmingly positive. "I thought it was a great initiative to channelise the energy of these kids. While some of these games were played in school, it was never under proper guidance. As the PT teachers lacked the expertise to train them. But now, they are being trained as well," says Lohe.
Presently, the BMC has the budget only for PT teachers. So, the next step for Heed India was to hire trainers in the nine sporting categories, for which they reached out to city players who had competed at the state and national levels. "Many of our coaches have passed out of BMC schools, so they could relate to the idea. For them, it's a way of giving back to their alma mater," says Balakrishnan. The team also partnered with women coaches to train girls in contact sports like wrestling and kabbadi.
The coaches, and the members from Heed India and the BMC together did a reconnaissance to ascertain which sport could be allocated at what school. The results threw up some surprises. When they visited MHB Colony Mahanagar Urdu School, and Malwani Township School, both in Malad, they recall being blown away by the sheer size of the playgrounds. "They were just right for football and boxing," says Balakrishnan. The notorious reputation of Malwani, infamous for its anti-social elements, made certain combat sports a necessary proposition. "So many girls have signed up to learn boxing," she says. But not all BMC schools have the privilege of space. At some, such as Akurli Municipal School in Kandivli, the team has had to utilise the corridors for practice.
Challenges ahead
While the campaign has been off to a roaring start, the challenge now is to sustain it in the long run. For this, they have already begun approaching corporates for funding. "Many companies want to know the girl-to-boy ratio because they want to invest in a campaign that is gender inclusive," says Barasara. Once the funding is in place, the next step will be to focus on nutrition, which currently, he says, is severely lacking. Their research showed that most children don't have breakfast.
"We don't know how much nutrition they get at home which is why they are underweight. This becomes a problem because combat sports have weight divisions," says PT trainer and wrestling coach, Priya Pendulkar, who pools in money with other trainers to buy fruits for the students. Barasara says they want to extend the facilities to include more schools. "There are three lakh BMC students. We have a long way to go," he says.
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