KOZHIKODE: There is grass grown at knee-high in the field; the track circling the bushy surface appears a tad uneven; the rough rock-strewn path leading to the ground is almost sliced open by the repeated overland flow.
By the looks of it, it doesn’t pass for a running track or ground, yet this is where the former Indian sprinting queen passes on her morning and evening lessons to 34 students, many of whom are already proven athletes.
“You can see the place. You can see the ground. There is tall grass all over the area. It requires heavy mowing, but that is additional expense for us,” says P T Usha, president of Usha School of Athletics, her own sports venture.
Usha School of Athletics is a sports academy launched in 2002 at Kinalur of Kozhikode district with a clear motto of producing international-level athletes. And it is not without its fair share of results.
They have the national and international runners in Tintu Luka, Asian Games gold medal winner, and Jessy Joseph, silver medallist in the Asian Junior Athletics meet, and a couple of others who have proved their merit in their own respective categories.
Amid these promising outcomes, there is a growing concern for Usha’s school, as it is known in the area. The academy is facing a fund crunch, and is currently struggling to meet the day-to-day expenses of the students.
The school, says Usha, is presently feeling the pinch, and is on the brink of closure for want of money. “We need an estimated yearly expense of `1 lakh for each student at the school. With 34 students at the school, the estimated amount a year is more than `34 lakh,” Usha says.
The school relies on sponsors for its major share of fund, but still cannot meet the overall expense a year. Transworld Shipping and Logistics based in Dubai is the current sponsor of Usha School of Athletics, but what they can earn through the sponsors is `20 lakh. “We receive `20 lakh as sponsorship money, and about `4 lakh is collected from individuals who have special interests in the development of sports. For the remaining amount, we have to depend on the corpus
fund which is not meant for such use,” says Usha.
Apart from the daily allowance of children, the school has to pay its staff, who include a physiotherapist, a cook, a sweeper and two assistant coaches. The maintenance of the ground and hostel is another area which is creating a headache for Usha.
“Every year we find a shortage of more than `5 lakh, which we have to use from the corpus fund. What the government should take note of is that the school has produced a wealth of
talent for the country with such limited facilities,” says Usha, who is worried that the academy may have to be closed down if sponsors withdraw their support.
“It was the systematic practice and hard work that made Tintu and team what they are now. Sadly, none of them has been offered any individual sponsorship so far. What we are asking for is some monetary help to run the academy properly,” Usha adds.