The Kerala State Sports Council (KSSC) will lay emphasis on ongoing schemes and take steps to strengthen them further so that its ideals are realised.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, after a special general meeting of the Council, KSSC president TP Dasan said it did not mean that the KSSC would turn its back on new schemes.
Since a lot of money has been pumped into the current schemes, stress would be placed on them before drawing up fresh projects are drawn up, he said.
Dasan said that by having already decided to enlarge the scope of the prestigious ‘Vision India’ project, a further 2,000-odd school children will be provided intensive coaching in football in the seven new districts in which the scheme is being introduced this year.
This would mean that over 4,000 boys will be exposed to scientific coaching in the game throughout the year.
The challenge, he said, was to draw up a follow-up programme to ensure that the children moving out of schools at the end of their scholastic pursuit in these institutions continue to receive coaching on a regular basis.
Funds promised
The KSSC president said that the Union Government has promised to provide funds to the tune of Rs. 5.25 crore for the implementation of its ambitious Panchayat Yuva Khel Krida Abhiyan in 100 selected panchayats and 15 block panchayats during the first year.
Already, the first instalment of the money received from the Union Government has been transferred to the selected panchayats and block panchayats. Besides financial aid for the construction of sports infrastructure, the scheme also laid equal emphasis on training and competitions.
To comply with this demand, competitions will be held at the block, district and State levels in all the identified disciplines. At the State level, each State was given the freedom to select 10 disciplines.
The same was also the case at the district level, but training will be limited to only five disciplines in the selected panchayat.
Dasan said the next priority of the KSSC would be to successfully implement the integration of sports and physical education as part of the curriculum by closing working with the Education Department.
“Now, only less than 5 per cent of our students from among the over 50 lakh studying in schools take part in any sort of physical activity.
This has also become evident from the Total Physical Fitness Programme launched last year.
“However, there is a scope for a larger number of children to take part in sporting activities once sports and physical education are made part of the curriculum.
The need will arise to identify the most talented among them and expose them to sound basic training. It is thus going to be a challenging task.”
Rehman elected
Earlier, at the special general meeting, the KOA president, M.M. Abdul Rehman, was unanimously elected as the KSSC vice- president as expected.
Likewise, the election of the five-member Standing Committee comprising S. Rajiv (aquatics), Paul Aluvathingal (athletics), K.S. Babu (Wayanad), G. Bipin (Pathanamthitta) and V.S. Sunil Kumar, MLA, was formally announced.
The first meeting of the newly-elected Standing Committee will be held here on August 28 to discuss KSSC’s future plans.
Source: The Hindu
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Monday 17 August 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.