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Good-bye summer
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Summer camp at NTR Stadium leaves sweet memories for kids, coaches and parents, says Ramesh Susarla.
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DISCIPLINE, WHOLESOME entertainment integrated with some serious sporting activity for children made the NTR Multipurpose Stadium in Guntur the most happening place when there was stoic silence in the political arena during early May. Even as the season for the vagaries of schooling is fast approaching, children recall how the days flew by during summer.
People from all walks of life found the Summer Coaching Camp the best way to provide an alternative for their children's boredom at home during the holidays, which not only drove out lethargy, but unexpectedly turned some of them overactive.
Boys and girls, who never saw sunrise on normal days, were up by 5 am to be at the stadium in time for the morning prayer, jogging and workout session before they dispersed for their chosen specialisation of sport.
Who does not like a splash in the pool in the hot summer months and obviously swimming was the most sought-after sport followed by Skating and Shuttle Badminton. Added attraction for the participants was a nutritious diet both in the morning evening sessions with a cool energy drink to savour.
About 250 enthusiasts in each of swimming and skating camps had to be divided into two batches -- morning and evening due to paucity of infrastructure, but that did not dampen the children's spirits.
Akhil Sai, in his second standard was so overawed by the way the children glided on the rollers in the skating rink that with colourful safety headbands that he returned to the camp for second consecutive year.
For majority it was only making fun during the camp and enjoying the company of new children of their own age, but a few of them in each sport took up the practice sessions very seriously putting soul into them. Skating coach, Rambabu, from Visakhapatnam found enormous enthusiasm among the youngsters and 50 of them had the intention of continuing throughout the year.
"Investment on the sporting gear to continue in the competitive arena is prohibitive,'' said Mr. Preetam Vandavasia father of one of the young participants in the rink. Investment ranges from Rs.500 to Rs.5,000 for a pair of roller skates for ordinary variety with shoes attached, while for the special `Barodas' or `Inlans' it could go upto Rs.30,000. Vamsi and Sumanth, regulars at the rink here had got 3rd and 4th places in the national competition recently. From the parents' angle sending to summer camp was for keeping their ward healthy by increasing their appetite. "Skating, swimming and athletics while providing good exercise to the body, reduce body fat among the obese,'' pointed out Chukkapalli Ramesh, the Stadium Complex governing body secretary.
"We have taken every care to provide the most nutritious and hygienic diet by introducing some sprouts and energy drink in the evenings,'' he observed.
Patronage for shuttle badminton, for which there were four wooden courts and two more likely to be laid very soon, was tremendous as this was one sport for which the stadium had two permanent coaches. While the new-comers in under-10, under-13 and under-16 learnt the basics of postures, strokes, about a dozen of promising children took interest to continue beyond the camp.
"We make them jog and warm up for the practice sessions and do not let them go home without floor exercises for cooling, without which they could have muscle problems,'' explained P. Sambasiva Rao, the shuttle coach. The second coach, S.K. Anwar Basha, helped them out by correcting their grip, foot-work.
Basketball players are usually tall, but majority of the participants at the summer camp were short. "The parents' wish to make their children grow tall physically was responsible for 120 of them taking to this sport,'' said the coach, S.K. Maqbool. Why not when the results were there for the parents to watch at the end of the camp. Some of them claimed to have grown taller by one inch, improved food intake and reduced weight by two kg. Dribbling, running, positioning and throwing ball into the net were taught systematically.
Majority of those joined the athletics camp wanted to reduce their weight and some serious runners were also there and it took a week for M. Lakshmi, the coach to understand individual child's strength in a particular event -- sprint, long-distance running or throws to make them get the basics correctly.
Ramakrishna from the police department, an athlete himself was drafted into the camp to train the children. A feather in the cap of the organisers was the quality of training and entertainment that attracted 25 children from Chennai, Hyderabad and other cities to spend whole of May in otherwise hot Guntur city.
"There were 14 children last year and many of them have returned this year with new friends,'' said Mr. Ramesh. In addition to their regular coaches 10 additional coaches were hired for the month with lucrative offers from all over the State.
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Metro Plus
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