CHENNAI: A passion for sports and lack of opportunities for young kids on field led to the birth of SportyBeans in Pune in 2009. Today they have been actively running programmes in several cities. A platform for instilling passion for sports into young children, Vivek J Khona, master franchisee, SportyBeans, Tamil Nadu, calls it a pre-sport programme. “We have kids between 2 and 8 years. These are formative years, when you need to give special care and attention. This is similar to a school; here, teachers also manage, encourage and mould them.
The programme offers nine ball-sports games — basketball, soccer, cricket, hockey, rugby, golf, baseball, volleyball and tennis. Kids start by playing all the nine sports. Eventually, they are offered three sports and then a single sport programme, wherein, depending on their interest, they can choose one. “We instil passion in them. Once they are done with our programme, they join an advanced coaching for the sport of their choice, elsewhere,” Vivek points out.SportyBeans uses a stage-by-stage approach to train kids. “We don’t hurry them into the game; it is not repetitive either. A child with us is trained like a story is taught,” says Vivek.
What are the benefits of this programme? “Their motor skills are developed. As they play a couple of sports their hand-eye and foot-eye coordination is honed as well,” says Chakravarthy S Birur, master franchisee, SportyBeans, Tamil Nadu. “We have also noticed a change in life skills. By playing these games regularly and at such a young age, these kids are able to lead a healthy lifestyle. This means that their concentration, listening skills and the skill to follow directions also increases to a great extent,” adds Vivek. They claim that the kids don’t fall sick often; they eat well and are socially more interactive.
Each centre has around five coaches, and they are called ‘Beanstructors’. “Since we are dealing with young kids, we are careful and particular about the selection of our instructors. We look for passion, high energy, patience and commitment in them,” says Chakravarthy. They usually prefer a ‘fresh’ coach, instead of taking coaches who have already trained with older kids in schools, as they fear they might judge the kids.
Although there are eight centres in Tamil Nadu, Chakravarthy says compared to other cities, South is a bit conservative in sports. “Academics are always preferred over anything else. We have seen parents saying that their kids don’t have time to attend these sessions because of school and tuitions. Although things are changing, it is quite slow. But, we have received positive feedback from parents who send their kids to us.” Suhasini, mother of five-year-old Aakash, says that she can see a lot of positive changes in her son when he is learning here. “Initially, my son showed no interest in sports. But after attending classes with SportyBeans, he is keen to play, as he has many games to choose from and doesn’t get bored,” she says.
For details visit www.sportybeans.com