HYDERABAD : ne look at the root causes of most lifestyle diseases today, and you notice that ‘sedentary lifestyle’ makes multiple appearances. The mantra to good health now is that we need to move, and what can be a better way of doing that than sports? If you have already made up your mind to play any sport and cannot find space to do it in this concrete jungle, a city start-up can come to your aid.
Netplay Sports Pvt Ltd., established in 2016, wants to provide the common man convenient access to learn and play sports. The initiative was conceptualised when the founders, Aditya Reddy and his brother Siddharth Reddy, realised that easily-accessible sports spaces in Hyderabad are hard to come by. The existing ones are either high-end or have bad infrastructure. Says Aditya: “We define our company as a technology-enabled sports company. We want to convert all the game watchers to players.”Over the past three years, Netplay has built two Gamepoint Centres and a Netplay Academy — all in Madhapur.
Gamepoint Centres
The first centre has six international standard badminton courts, two squash courts, table tennis, basketball court, football turf, volleyball and 10 m shooting range. Spread over 1.25 acre, the space can be used by anyone to play any of the given sports.
Slots can be booked through their app ‘Netplay Sports’ which is available on Google Play. As many as six people can play badminton at `550 per hour, and for football, 15 persons can play at `1500 an hour. Equipment are provided for group sports like football and cricket. In case of others like badminton, the equipment can be taken on lease on a per hour basis. Shoes, socks and other gear are also available on lease, and there are shower and changing rooms too.
The second Gamepoint Centre has a badminton court and a sports shop.Netplay AcademyThe academy, which functions from the premises of the first Gamepoint Centre, aims to provide standardised sports coaching for beginners, which can include children and adults. Right now, they have 25 coaches, equipped with national and international certifications, who provide basketball, table tennis, squash and football coaching.
As many as 250 children are now enrolled in the academy. The academy provides quarterly, half-yearly and annual packages and the prices range between `6,000 and `15,000 per quarter depending on the package. People can choose slots before or after school as per their convenience. There are weekend classes too. “Apart from coaching the students, we also assess their skills and fitness levels. The coaches also provide them advice on diet and meet their parents regularly to give feedback. We sometimes get renowned sports nutritionists to talk to the children,” says Aditya. Apart from the above facilities, Netplay gives their space on rent to schools and corporates to conduct events.
Aditya Reddy, who has an MBA degree from IIM Calcutta and Mechanical Engineering degree from Osmania University, is also the co-founder of Thinkcell Learning Solutions Pvt Ltd. Siddharth Reddy, who has completed his MBA from XIME, Bangalore, and B.E from Osmania University, has also set up CADVision Engineers Private Limited.