Budding young sailors from Hyderabad and a few other cities had a good opportunity to hone their skills when the Yacht Club of Hyderabad organised a week-long coaching camp under the supervision of international coach Marek Nostitz Jakowski who sails and works in Hong Kong.
Over the last few years the YCH run by Suheim Sheikh has been promoting sailing among young children of Hyderabad and this time it decided to bring in an international coach to guide the young trainees.
“The toughest thing for the children was the consistent hard work. We started at 9 am every day with stretching and fitness exercises. Then 5 hours on the water with short break for lunch. That meant we finished at 6.30 pm daily. Keeping up this schedule for entire camp gave me an opportunity to show the sailors what real training is like and how other sailors all over the world are working to succeed,” said Marek.
“However, I found that the youngsters are not yet ready to succeed even at the Indian level, but they are dedicated and if they continue systematic work, they will succeed one day. In any sport you need consistency. They also have to take things more seriously. But they are good children and under right guidance their future is bright,” he added.
When asked how he would rate these trainees as compared to other boys of their age — say in Hong Kong for example, Marek said, “If you compare them to youngster in Hong Kong boys, they could be in mid fleet – that is average. Sailors in Hong Kong are more aware of rules and in particular the top 10 a bit more serious. But sometimes it is difficult to compare because of different environments.”
“I’m glad to see all this hard work that Suheim is doing in Hyderabad to promote sailing for children. I hope to return to India again to work with them. I have more than four years experience of working with Indian sailors. My next assignment is to take Indian, Thai and Hong Kong sailors for the Europa Cup regatta in Kiel in Germany and then the world championship in Hungary for Laser 4.7 Class,” he concluded.
