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  Sporty FIX-ations

Sporty FIX-ations

Published : Apr 30, 2016, 10:43 pm IST
Updated : Apr 30, 2016, 10:43 pm IST

Soccer camp at FC Barcelona is many an aspiring footballer’s dream trip, with hopes of setting their gaze on their idol Lionel Messi at Nou Camp. The holiday season now has kids across India signing up for sports camps abroad, and their parents paying big money to hone their talent.

messi.jpg
 messi.jpg

Soccer camp at FC Barcelona is many an aspiring footballer’s dream trip, with hopes of setting their gaze on their idol Lionel Messi at Nou Camp.

The holiday season now has kids across India signing up for sports camps abroad, and their parents paying big money to hone their talent. A fire ignites, becoming all consuming. And the predilection to sports becomes a way of life. Holidays foraying into the highest echelons of training, for many aspirational children and families, sport is deciding play dates, schools, relocation, daily activities and now very pertinently, summer holidays. The holiday season sees children across India, and parents chalking out vacation plans with emphasis on training, fitness and international exposure. From learning crosses and passes at Football Club Barcelona Camp, or Real Madrid, or aspiring to be in Mallorca where the king of clay, Rafael Nadal has his state of the art academy (which opens camps May-end with a tie-up with Bengaluru-based Mahesh Bhupathi’s Tennis Academy), or travelling to the US to Nick Bollettieri Academy or Spain’s Sanchez, or UK for cricket, or to Switzerland’s peaks for golfing or to Brazil to learn the game near the favelas that endowed it with the “beautiful” moniker, the young sporty Indian has upped his ante.

A fat bank balance is a necessity, but being chiselled and hammered into top form is what is driving all of them.

A child’s initiative Arjuna awardee Gaurav Natekar, CEO, Mahesh Bhupathi Academy, has tied up with Rafa’s Academy. “The interest for Rafa’s academy is tremendous,” says Gaurav, who feels that, “There are genuine kids and parents who go the extra mile to develop talent. But I am not sure if it (camps) is a fad. Lots of parents and kids think of it as a tick mark on their calendar, or succumb to peer pressure,” with many instances of children being pushed into sports, with great expectations resting on their tiny shoulders. Natekar cautions as a seasoned professional, and also as a father whose son is showing a proficiency towards golf, “A parent has to be clear about the talent that the child has and so must the child. Many kids might not be ready. This ‘FOMO’ effect trickles down — The fear of missing out. Care needs to be taken that camps are signed up for the right reason. Parents can only enable. The child has to show potential first.” Putting it into perspective The cowbell ringing carpet of green in Switzerland beckons a bevy of golfing children. Balz Mueller, Dean of Lyceum Alpinum, Zouz, summer camp for golf training has a mixed bag of students. “They enroll for summer camps and Junior Golf Academy from over 35 nationalities,” explains Mueller. A child can choose a golf programme with three hours of personalised golf instruction a day. Techniques, swing perfection, short games and swing, and strategy are taught by members of the Swiss Professional Golf Association.

Cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru too have its little girls and boys who are going to local and international camps. There are even instances of golfing families shifting base to follow coaches, the trend has taken a flight of its own, and money is not a criteria.

“It is important that children learn in small groups according to their level of golf,” adds Mueller. John Wraith, golf trainer at Lyceum Alpinum, Zuoz elaborates, “Children join our Junior Golf Academy programme, the learning strategies are adapted to their individual golf level.” Internationally embellished Cricket, of course, was the first man on this sporting moon, and cricket player and coach, Abhishek says, “I have coached U-15s, and U-17s in Timaru, New Zealand. They are exposed to multiple sports, though when it comes to maturity in cricket, they are behind compared to Indians.” Which is where cricket as the king of the castle has dictated trends.

Shankar Krishnaswamy, director, coaching operations and development, MBTA, feels there is a vast difference internationally, “Academies abroad have 30 to 40 courts compared to India — Deccan Gym has 11 courts, and DLTA has 15 or 16. Coaching at Rafa Academy would be on a 1:2 ratio. In India that is an absolute luxury. While methods of teaching are all international modules, the infrastructure and tennis age (the amount of playing time) is much more abroad, so it does give an edge to a child.” He agrees that children till the age of 13-15 should be multi-sports driven, and muscle capacity and physical specs should be gauged — if it is good for short bursts then games like squash, sprinting, badminton are better. Drop shot to glory Mumbaikar Aman Kothari, a ten-and-a-half year old has his heart set on the Rafa Academy. He is also travelling to Barcelona for a summer camp. His sporty tennis-playing parents, Dia and Bhavin Kothari believe in the multi-sports strategy. Their tennis volleying, football dribbling right-back, seems to have his game spirit in chess, swimming and baddy too. The boy who got a chance to meet Toni Nadal and play for less than a minute with the Great Rafa, and even volleyed a drop shot to him, says, “Nadal was so inspiring, when I played a drop shot, he just walked three steps comfortably and slammed the ball, I was left stunned!”

The boy who did a MBTA camp in Cochin during the Holi holidays, says it changed his game dramatically. What Aman likes about these camps: “Enjoying playing tennis with the best, making new friends and learning tennis, techniques, improvisation, my technical errors.” His mother Dia wants her son to find his own sport, which is also what psychologists believe is the way forward — to be multi-disciplined till 13-14 years of age. When Aman goes for the soccer camp to FC Barcelona, he wants to be inspired by international players. For now, though, on agenda is the amazing Nou Camp, and setting his gaze on his idol Lionel Messi.

With costs of soccer camps at around Rs 1.50 lakh, they are expensive options, and Dia feels that deciding to combine it with an annual holiday seems apt.

Many question how such short camps can help in the long run. Krishnaswamy explains, “Going to a professional set-up like this can cost upto 1,600 Euros. Years ago, a father whose children I was coaching came and asked me, ‘I’d rather you concentrate on serve and volley, which I found strange and pushy, but he explained how in the US, scientifically predicting muscle growth helps determine the player’s height, ability and sport. Such camps are more professional, giving the child an edge.”

Charting a balance For Bengaluru-based Mrudula Alla, both her sons Srikar and Abhishek loved tennis, and represented the under-14 before shifting to the US. After many a camps, the Allas decided to send their sons to the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida, US. Her younger son Abhishek stood first in the Division 3 while studying at Carnegie Mellon.

A clear-thinking parent, and child can gain from such exposure. “Introducing a child early on into sports is good as he gets to see his potential, where he excels. Since a tennis career is short-lived, between 25-35 are the playing years, unless the child is really gifted and talented, it is difficult to eke a living. In India, it is tough to get such a well rounded experience, plus we don’t have that kind of competition,” says Mrudula.

Abhishek looks back at the Nick Bollettieri Academy saying, “It improved my game and technique. It gave us exposure which you do not get in India. We were playing with 50 percent international students, who are now friends for life. I think the academy has become more commercial now. The overall competition is so much higher in the US, and there are tougher matches. Unconsciously, it ups one’s game..”

“Winning the Division 3 nationals was great in my sophomore year,” he says. “It is not hard to go pro but to live off that is not easy, and to be in the top 150 is the most difficult and requires a full-time commitment. If my goal was to go pro, I would have joined division 1, which lays emphasis on sports, but I chose a balance of both with division 3,” says the student of civil and environmental engineering, whose advice is grounded in reality.

Fad or fab, learning from the greats empowers these children. And seeing how all great sports stars played various games, till they chose one, these children are going in the right direction, and having a whale of a time too.