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More than a game for them

Photo: T. Singaravelou

Overpowering optimism: Special children from different States attending the national basketball coaching camp in Puducherry on Friday. —

PUDUCHERRY: Loud claps, words of appreciation and loads of cheers fill the air at the Indira Gandhi indoor stadium. As the floor reverberates with activity, scores of energetic special children are busy training with the basketball at the four-day National coaching camp which began Thursday.

The camp, which started on Thursday, would train around 320 special children from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Puducherry.

“This is a preparatory camp for the 2011 summer games to be held at Athens in Greece. After this, the children would undergo training in their respective States,” Manager of sports, Special Olympics-Asian Pacific Region M.S. Nagarajan said.“On the first day, we trained them in basic skills such as coordination, speed and balance. They would play a game on the last day,” he said.

Unlike the usual training method, the pattern is different here for special children. They undergo a circuit method of training which has 10 stations. Each station would have a different activity, Mr. Nagarajan added.

Sports Director cum Secretary of Puducherry Special Olympics V. Ragothaman said, “We adopt creative and easy methods to teach the children. The rules of the game are also relaxed for them.”

Basketball was more than a game for the special children as it enabled them to gain confidence and courage. It helped them become independent and has therapeutic values too, Mr. Nagarajan said.“But more than winning medals, it is their happiness and smile that matters,” M. Sugathan, founder of SADAY-School for Special Needs said. Around 11 children from the school were participating at the camp.

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