Walking up to the first floor of School of Sports’ building, Pitch, at Nandanam, one can smell subtle traces of fresh paint. It’s been a couple of weeks since Siddarth K and Rajeshwari Murugesan set up the space to promote sports at the grassroots level.
Contrary to its name, Pitch was built with a focus on indoor sports. Next to the entrance sit two stately snooker tables, and two for table tennis. On the right are rooms dedicated to a single sport each: a chess room with boards printed on to tabletops, a carrom room, and a room just for recreation. The final one has colourful bean bags and a mini-library. The walls are covered in pop art, and everything from bookshelves to chairs are custom-made from old petrol cans, welded and painted anew.
Pipe dreams
Siddarth had been a district-level cricket player. But like many others, he eventually stopped playing after the age of 16-17, focussing instead on his academics, and later on his job as a banker. “As kids, we never got the kind of encouragement that we should have got in order for us to take up sports as a career,” he says.
Chips in Rajeshwari, who played district-level volleyball, “Given the choice, I would have been a professional volleyball player today. But we did not have the right training.”
It follows naturally that when Sidharth grew tired of the monotony of his corporate life, he decided to turn his childhood dreams — sports training — into reality. “Even before quitting, I remember calling my mother and telling her what I wanted to name my startup: School of Sports.”
The duo aim to encourage sports at the early age of eight. They work with coaches, who are former State or National level players, and train children at various schools in football, basketball, cricket, and badminton. “That’s the quality we want to provide. Most schools have generic PT teachers for all sports, unlike our coaches who specialise in one,” he says. They hope to work with 100 schools in the Southern region by the end of 2019, and then establish their presence up North as well.
With Pitch, however, they are exploring development of indoor sports such as snooker, table tennis, carrom, and chess. “Snooker in particular is our focus,” says Siddarth, “It’s a sport that has been restricted to the elite clubs of the city. If we train children early on, their chances of playing at the National level are higher, as there isn’t much competition yet.” He even got children-friendly tables and cue sticks, that are smaller in size.
No child left behind
While School of Sports works mostly with school students, Siddarth hopes that the establishment of Pitch will help make sports more accessible to everyone. “Our intent is to eventually take in 20 underprivileged children under our wing here, and provide them with the education necessary to clear their Class X board exams, but with sports as the primary subject,” he says. Sports help develop children’s personalities, he says, “You learn to work in a team, to respect every player.” Even if the children don’t excel at one particular sport, they can always participate in everything and make friends — not just for a healthy dose of exercise, but also for making friends.
Apart from coaches, they also employ ‘Relationship Managers’ who oversee the training. “It’s like a good cop, bad cop thing,” explains Shruti Suresh, an RM, “The coaches are supposed to push the children forward, whereas we are the ones encouraging them, cheering them on even when they lose, and keeping an eye out for bullying or inappropriate behaviour.”
It’s not just sports that makes the Pitch what it is. The space at Pitch will be lent for other workshops for children as well, such as storytelling, dance and yoga; there’s even a mirror running along the entire length of one of the walls. “It’s basically everything that ensures the overall development of children, other than mainstream academics,” says Rajeshwari.
Siddarth’s own daughter, Aashi, has visited Pitch already. “She is just two years old, so maybe after a year or two, I’ll start bringing her here regularly,” he grins, “I’m not going to force sports on her, but there’s always the hope.”
As an opening offer, School of Sports will be conducting four weeks of free indoor sport training. For details, call 9789991818.
