Cricket and cool waters
J. R. SHRIDHARAN
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Summer camps are ideal places to spot young talent.
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PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR
CHAMPS IN THE MAKING: At the camp
During summer school children throng camps organised by corporation, District Sports Authority and private academies. The annual summer camps also came in handy for parents. "Keeping children indoors makes them lazy and quite often they get glued to the television and video games. A couple of hours of stay on the play field not only helps them improve fitness, but would help them develop interest towards the chosen game," feels District Sports Development Officer B. Sudhakar.
For the sports administrators, the summer camps provide the platform for identifying the precocious players. But what irks the coaches is the vanishing act by the talented players once the schools and colleges reopen. "We spend a lot of time honing their skills for over a month expecting they that the children would continue their relationship with the game. But once the schools reopen, the academics occupy the prime slot and children begin to desert the playfield," bemoaned Andhra Pradesh Table Tennis Association secretary, S.M. Sultan.
In the pool
The three swimming pools maintained by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation are witnessing a beehive of activities with hundreds of rookie swimming piercing the blue waters in gay abandon. "Swimming pools are the favourite for many as they help children beat the heat. Long distance swimmers like Sreesri, Bhayasri, Saroja and Jyothi Surekha are the products of summer camps, " says swimming coach N. Sambasiva Rao.
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