Ghaziabad resident on sports literacy mission in state villages
GHAZIABAD: Two years ago, seven-year-old Palak from Bahadarpur village in Muzaffarnagar was aware of only one kind of sport -- cricket -- as she would call it ‘bat-ball’. Today, she is a budding athlete who is exposed to a host of sports such as running and jumping.
Palak is among 400 children below the age of 13 years who are being imparted sports training under the ‘Model Sports Village’ programme. Started in January 2020 by an NGO -- Sports: A Way of Life -- the initiative aims to increase sports literacy in the twin villages of Bahadarpur and Kheriviran in Muzaffarnagar.
Mona, Palak’s mother, said that earlier the village kids only used to play games like kabaddi or cricket. “The Model Sports Village initiative has turned out to be a boon for the children. Earlier we were not aware of the benefits of letting our children play. Now, we have realised the importance of sports. My daughter likes to train for races, high jump and long jump,” said Mona.
Kanishka Pandey, founder of the NGO, said that though the Covid-19 pandemic did hamper the initiative, the excitement among children has helped keep the programme afloat.
“Moreover, the Tokyo Olympics has further boosted confidence among the villagers to encourage their children to participate in sports. Our programme focuses on children below 13 years as they are more likely to soak in new ideas and be open to new career options,”
said 29-year-old Pandey, a resident of Mohan Nagar in Ghaziabad.
Under the programme, village youths who are good at sports are trained to further impart training to the children. “Each village has two male and two
female trainers who have been given training by the NGO. Currently, we focus on basics like jumping and running for the children. The trainers give the performance reports to our experts. There are 15 girls in the age group of under-13 and 10
boys in the under-10 age group who are showing potential and doing exceedingly well,” said Pandey, a former national-level badminton player.
Pandey, who is also the head of Sports Research Centre at the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, is on a mission to increase sports literacy among school children. His journey to promote sports at the grassroot level started in 2017 when he took up an independent research for three years on sports to gauge its implication on physical and mental fitness of an individual and how it helps build the character.
“At the end of my research, it was found that a sport is not just for winning medals or making money and a career, but it actually helps build 16 characteristics in a child. These include vital personality traits like decision making, sportsmanship, team spirit and discipline. People should see sports as a catalyst in building the character of a person instilled with values,” said Pandey. In 2017, after his NGO was launched, Pandey, along with his team, carried out a countrywide survey to gauge the public interest in various sports activities. “The survey found that less than 5% of people have an interest in sports,” he said.
Citing this survey, Pandey filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court to make sports a fundamental right under Section 21A of the Indian Constitution in 2019. “The PIL has been accepted and an amicus curiae has been appointed to hear the matter,” said Pandey.
Pandey has also come up with an alphabet booklet to educate children about a host of different kinds of sports. “I have been distributing the booklets among students of government schools in Ghaziabad, Meerut, and Muzaffarnagar since 2019,” Pandey said.
Taking the initiative forward to gurukuls and madrasas, Pandey introduced four books in Sanskrit and Urdu in August this year. “The books -- ‘Khel Kayda’, ‘Krida Paricharika’, ‘Khel Safa’ and ‘Krida Ek Jeevan Padhati’ -have been distributed to 50 representatives of gurukuls and madrassas in four districts of western UP -- Ghaziabad, Meerut, Hapur and Muzaffarnagar,” he said.
Pandit Toyaraj Upadhyay from a gurukul in Ghaziabad said, “The sports booklets in Sanskrit are innovative. We have distributed them among our pupils in order to encourage them to participate in sports and to also make them aware about the various kinds of games.”
Maulana Nisar Ahmed, who teaches at a madrassa in Ghaziabad, said, “Pandey’s initiative has supported the students of madrassas who want to pursue sports. We will propagate this initiative in other madrassas.”