No hurdle too big

In a bid to train differently-abled children for mega sporting competitions like the Paralympics, a one-of-a-kind sporting event — Spirit 2016 — kicked off on February 14

Sunday marked a special occasion in the lives of three event planners — Manasi Mehta, Sejal Shah and Miloni Doshi. And it had nothing to do with Valentine’s Day. It was the realisation of a long-standing dream of theirs — to conduct a one-of-a-kind sporting event for differently-abled children in Mumbai and take the first step towards to making India a frontrunner in the Paralympic. It was this dream that led to the formation of Spirit 2016, a mega sporting event with more than 100 differently-abled children from across several schools in Mumbai that took place at the Cooperage Football Ground in Churchgate.

True to its name, Spirit 2016 is aimed at celebrating the grit of special children, for whom every day is a race against hurdles. The organisers on their part, ensured that the participants were encouraged enough.

For instance, 11-year-old Ishaan, who is autistic wanted the gold cup (first prize) but finished third. And he was immediately promised the same by the organisers, who feel that no trophy is too big to honour the fighting spirit of these children. Over 100 students participated at the event, which included hardcore sports like football as well as simple games like lemon and spoon race.

The event is the brainchild of Sejal and Manasi, who returned to the country from the US and joined hands with Miloni to create Spirit 2016. “The idea came to us when we attended one such sports day event at a school in New York. These children had so much talent and it got us thinking why there aren’t events like these back home in India ”

So we came back and decided that would conduct the biggest event of this kind here,” says Manasi when asked how the idea came about. With several well-known schools and NGOs in the city for special children participating in the event, it turned out to be a busy day for the children. The organisers are serious about their purpose. Sejal says, “Our aim is to make these children capable and confident enough to compete in events like the Paralympics one day. And this is just the start of that journey.”

While the road to sporting glory is filled with daunting hurdles such as lack of support and training facilities for the children, these brave hearts are ready to take them on. Dattaram A. Fonde, a veteran sports and athletics coach, has been training these children for the event. “The problem is that not many know the right approach. It is not the same as for regular children where one training approach would fit all of them. Here, you have to train each child in a separate way. A hearing and speech-impaired child can’t be trained the same way as an autistic child. An autistic child requires consistent and repeated training to embed any skill into him or her, which takes persistence. However, for a child who has a speech or hearing impediment, the main problem is motivation, which has to be done through sign language. The most important aspect is detecting what interests them and what are they passionate about,” says Dattaram who has been working with the children for 45 days.

The response has been positive with NGOs welcoming the initiative. Sejal says, “The NGOs have really taken to the concept very well because many had been looking for an event like this but couldn’t organise one on their own. They were very pleased to be approached. And the same goes for the children as well.” The challenges can often be unforeseen in events like these. Just the night before the event, a child had a severe convulsion. “Even though we had a team and doctors at hand, we were advised that he be admitted to the hospital immediately. But it was the child’s mother who requested us to let her son participate. She also mentioned that if he became fine the next day, well in time for the event, he would be very upset with her for not letting him participate. That’s how badly he wanted to run in the race,” Sejal says.

She and her team are hopeful that Spirit will expand in the years to come. Ten-year-old Sanjana Pore who is being treated for Down syndrome, was accompanied by her teacher to the event. And she seemed to have had a good time. “It was a lot of fun. All my friends were running and it was great to run with them.” And for 15-year-old mentally impaired Sumit Shah, losing the race this year is only more motivation to do better next time. “I wanted to win the three-legged race (a race where participants run in pairs with one of their legs tied to each other) but we lost because it was difficult for me to lift Jaffer’s (his partner’s) leg. We will train better the next time around and win it,” he said.