'Play for Health' aims to enhance physical and mental abilities of children by initiating them to sports and games.The primary focus is to help the children devolop aptitude in a variety of games which could later be harnessed through systematic andscientific training. It also aims to convert schools as sporting hubs and ensure regular physical activity among school children.

Play for health is an ambitious project aimed at improving the overall development of children in the age group of 4-12. This program is envisaged by Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of Kerala and has been developed by Splendor Associates.

The GNxT equipments provided with this program functions as physical as well as mental ability enhancer for the kids through fun filled activities. The chosen faculties of the coordinating schools are trained in special motor skill development drills for systematic training of the children.

Periodic assessment of the student’s skill development can be evaluated by monitoring their performance online and adequate reports will be generated. This report would be a guideline to assess the game skill capacity of the child. Thus this program envisages to built a professional sports culture in the children and provide better sports persons for the state.

Kick off is a Grass root level football development programme of Directorate of Sports & Youth Affairs, Government of Kerala. It is a well known fact that keralites are deeply interested in Sports and Games, especially in football. Our country, having a population of over one hundred crores taking part in the world cup football some day is one of our prized dream. Mr.Sepp Blatter, former president of FIFA, described India as the ‘Sleeping Giant’ of football. Our achievements in FIFA Under 17 World Cup held in India, ISL football tournaments, COTIF Under 20 and AFC Under - 16 were a clear indication that India’s dream of participating in the FIFA World Cup tournament would become a reality soon.

‘Kick off’ Project Several European and Latin American Countries and a few countries in Asia including China have made significant achievements in football as a result of the implementation of meticulous ‘catch em young’ idea designed to find out children with talent in Sports and impart them with professional and scientific training in football. A similar football development programme named ‘KICK OFF’ has been designed by Directorate of Sports & Youth Affairs, Government of Kerala and shall be implemented in all fourteen districts of Kerala. The programme envisages to identify talented children in the urban, rural, coastal and tribal areas in the State. In each centre, 25 boys born at an age class between 9 - 12 would be selected using scientific criteria and through intense training they would be made future champions.

Benefits

• 1) Significant Participation in the U-13, U-14, U-15, Indian-I-League football tournaments etc.
• 2) Remarkable representation and performance of the Players from Kerala in the Under 19, I-League, Indian Super League and Indian Arrows tournaments.
• 3) Kerala’s effective involvement in future in the club/league competitions within the country and abroad.
• 4) Successful participation of the well trained students in the U-19, U-14, U-12, Academy, League competitions conducted by Kerala Football Association.
• 5) Helping Schools, Colleges and Universities to setup professional teams with well- trained players.
• 6) The state’s impressive participation in the National School level competitions like the Subroto Cup Tournament etc.
• 7) Giving meaningful training to good players with the cooperation of international institutions like Victoria University.
• 8) Availing the opportunity to work with the cooperation of Foreign Clubs, Sponsors, National- International players/ Agencies etc.
• 9) Setting up of regional football clubs.
• 10) Inspiring Creation of play grounds for the adolescents.

Implementation
During the first phase, the programme shall be implemented in all the 14 districts of Kerala with the technical support of SEPT, an organization having more than ten years experience in the field of football coaching at grass root level. In the first stage, KICK OFF will be launched on 24th November’ 2018 in 8 centers from Kasaragod to Trissur and during this financial year itself, the programme shall be extended to other districts as well. Support and the rich experiences of the National and International Sports personalities and reputed agencies like Leads United of Europe can be utilized for the successful conduct of this programme which shall be an unique initiative in the country. Training


• 1. Those selected would be given training two days a week (90 minutes each day).
• 2. Sports kits and refreshments would also be provided.
• 3. In every centre the support of the coach and the assistant coach would be made available.
• 4. Inter center competitions and exposure visits would be held.
• 5. Technical help of foreign coaches would be made available.
• 6. Selection would be done by an expert agency and those selected would be given specialized training.
• 7. To raise the quality, ToT (Training of Trainers) would also be ensured.
• 8. All the trainers would be AFC recognized.
  

Registration
Boys interested in football training can register through www.sportskeralakickoff.org. The registered students would get registration details as SMS in their registered mobile numbers. When they come for final selection, registration number, birth certificate, Aadhaar card and character certificate (received from their parent school) need to be submitted.

Selection
Fifty students who qualify in the preliminary selection trial (which includes Zig Zag, 2 Vs 2 and Speed Test) have to participate in a 4 day (1.30 hrs each day) preparatory camp. After this training, the students have to undergo the above mentioned tests in addition to two additional tests- Kicking back and shooting for the final selection. On the basis of the above selection trials, 25 candidates would be included for the final list. If two persons have the same total score, the one who performs better in the speed test (25 mtr run) would be given preference. If they still have the same timing in speed test, the height would be the deciding factor.

Training centres
Kick off programme s being implemented at 33 centres in 14 districts of Kerala .

Monitoring and evaluation
There will be three-tier monitoring and evaluation committees to observe the performance at the Kick off programme. The progress of the training and the attendance would be collected and monitored through a centralized software system.

Kerala is a land of many ancient ritualistic games like Kalarippayattu which can be roughly translated as battlefield exercise. Kerala have adopted many games and exceled in it.Football, hockey, athletics and kabaddi are some of the more popular sports in Kerala. The government is planning to diversify their expertise by introducing Basketball and certain other disciplines. Basketball is mainly popular among adults as many government/public sector institutions have their own teams for basketball which play for their departments.‘HOOPS’ is the grass root level basketball programme, an initiative by govt. of Kerala and implementing through Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs. The program is implementing in schools across the state to transform the budding talents to international standards.

Hoops programme:

Basketball is a game which is very popular all over the world. Even though it was invented in USA, most of the countries now have their own teams to compete in FIBA. The arrival of USA’s NBA (National Basketball Association) team members to India is an illustration of the importance given by India to the basketball. This will give wide attention to basketball among public. According to ESPN, a leading channel in sports, over the past decade the popularity of basketball has been increased among youngsters. While playing basketball you can never stop as you have to be attentive every second of the play and there’s always a chance that even your simple negligence may change the course of the game. That is why we intend to introduce this well-loved sport at the early age of 9 to 12 years (4th to 7th standard). This programme, which will be known as ‘HOOPS’ would be implemented in 2 schools each in 5 districts in Kerala which will impart training for at least 1200 students.

Structure of Hoops:

‘HOOPS’ would be a great first step in moving towards India’s participation in FIBA at a higher level. The programme would be structured in a way that ensure the overall growth of kids in all the aspects related to basketball which in turn will enable them to participate in ISBL, junior men and women’s tournament, Federation Cup etc. In the 1stphase of ‘HOOPS’ would start in FY 2019-20 in 5 districts of Kerala, viz Thiruvananthapuram,Kollam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, and Kannur in 10 schools. This will enable KinderSports (implementing agency) to train and develop not less than 1200 students. The 2nd phase ofthis programme will beimplemented in next financial year and there will be a summer coaching for highly talented players in the months of April-May in the coming financial years.

Training details of Hoops:

• 1. Designated training centres will be opened with all the required infrastructure and equipment.
• 2.All the training centres will be headed by a professionally qualified basketball trainer.
• 3. Not less than 120 students will be trained in each centre.
• 4.This number would be divided into batches of 40 students each, for ensuring personal attention.
• 5.Each student will be trained for a total of 36 hours (45 minutes per day).
• 6.Regular tests will be conducted to know the progress of the programme and a progress report will be submitted to the concerned authorities.
• 7.To ensure the effectiveness of the programme there will be an online and offline monitoring system.

Registration process:

Interested students between the age of 9 to 12 (4th to 7th standard) can apply through their school, selected HOOPS centre or online.

Evaluation: Periodic fitness tests and efficiency tests would be conducted for the participants throughout the training period. There will be a system to monitor the growth of the project atState and training centre level.

SPRINT is a grassroot level athletics program that is being introduced in Kerala in collaboration with Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, Kerala and KinderSports, Pune. As it is known that Kerala is an origin of many ancient ritualistic arts Kalaripayattu which can be roughly translated as battlefield exercise. The essence is that Kerala has a huge tradition of sports activities.

Athletics is one of the prioritized sports disciplines in Kerala with a rich history of producing world class athletes, based on the performance at National and International level.Men and women athletes of Kerala have done the country proud multiple times.Kerala now has in place a state-of-the-art ASTRA facility in place at the Jimmy George Indoor Stadium at Thiruvananthapuram.For performance enhancement, training at grass root level across the state, with inter-school & inter-district tournaments has to be promoted; and we at KinderSports are trying to implement that.

SPRINT PROGRAM

Athletics is considered to be mother of all games. It not only builds one physically but it helps in body coordination and gives one mentalfirmness. Athletics also referred to as Track & Field sport consists a variety of events such as running, jumping, throwing and walking. The sport tests physical abilities of the participants such as endurance, speed, strength, flexibility, balance, coordination and much more. In India, the sport is governed by Athletics Federation of India and is very popular butIndia is yet to produce an Olympic medalist in Athletics.

Athletics has to be selected as a top priority sports discipline to provide continuous training for school going children in the state,between the age group of 5-12 years which aims to bring up talented children from sub urban, rural, tribal and other less tapped areas by catching those young.This program, which will be known as Sprint, would be implemented in (x) districts in Kerala at (x) schools which will involve the training of at least (x) students.

STRUCTURE OF SPRINT

Sprint would be a great step in moving towards India’s participation in IAAF at bigger level. The program would be structured in a way that attains overall growth of kids in all the aspects related to athletics which will enable them to participate in junior national level tournaments. In the first phase, SPRINT would start in FY 2021-22. It would be implemented in (x) major districts of Kerala, (names) in total of (x) schools. This will enable to train and develop more than (x) students. This program will continue to phase 2 by its implementation in FY 2021-22 and there is a high possibility of conducting summer coaching for more talented selective batch in the months of April-May in all the financial years.

TRAINING DETAILS OF SPRINT

• Designated training centers would be opened with all the required infrastructure and equipment. • All the training centers will be headed by professionally qualified athletics trainer. • The total number of students across all the designated centers would be minimum of (x). • This number would be divided into batches of (x) students max, for personal attention, and would be given training for the duration of 45 minutes during the weekdays. • Each student will be trained for the total of 36 hours over the duration of 6 months (24 weeks). • Regular tests would be conducted with the sole purpose of checking the progress and will be submitted to the concerned authorities. • Registration of attendance of every participant will be kept up to date and it will be made available online for the verification process.

REGISTRATION PROCESS

There would be a number of selective schools that would participate in the implementation of Sprint. Dedicated sports centers would be opened in the participating schools. The training will be open for all the students interested in learning athletics. Interested students can register themselves through their schools. Maximum number of students per batch is (x) which ensure proper training and attention which can be provided to each student. An attendance register would be made for all the participants where record of their turnout will be maintained.

Kerala which has a lot of water resources like rivers, lakes and ponds has a 550 km long coastline. Therefore, drowning deaths are very common, especially, among school children. The “splash” is a massive swimming training programme, that will be implemented by the Government of Kerala and Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairsthrough selected agencies.Considering the importance of swimming in our country is a great security precaution to prevent deaths.

“Splash,” a survival training program meant for school children, aims to develop the swimming skills necessary to survive unexpected water hazards. As part of this program, all students who in classes 5 to 12 or in the age group of 10 to 18 years will be provided free swimming training. The project will be implemented in five districts of Kerala-Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Wayanad and Kasaragod and will be extended to other districts as well.

Aim

This program envisions personality development andhealthy lifestyle along with swimming training for children who never had the opportunity to lean swimming.

• 1. To popularize swimming and make young people realize the need and importance of swimming.
• 2. To create a suitable space for swimming and water sports in the major sports events.
• 3. To develop awareness in society about swimming and survival from water hazards.
• 4. To promote the concept of a healthy body and toencourage swimming in society as anessential sports culture to promote a healthy society.
• 5. To develop opportunities for those identified as the talentedin swimming.
• 6. To build a community capable of mentally and physically addressing water challenges by improving the physical fitness and mental health.
• 7. To explore the possibilities for the convergence and sustainability of government and non-government programs to strengthen the village level water sports.

Implementation Strategy and Method

During the first five months of the project, at least 6000 students in 5 districts of Idukki, Trissur, Palakkad, Wayanad and Kasaragod will be trained in swimming(at least 1200 children from each district).
1. The implementation of the project with the co-operation of Local Self Government and Voluntary Organizations
2. 60 students in each batch and one trainer for 20 trainees (service of women trainers would be included)
3. Training up to 20 to 25 hours for every student
4. 1 hour 15 minutes per batch
5. Special time slots and batches for girls and boys.
6. Special batches in days, weekends and holidays.
7. 4 to 5 batches on working days
8. 6 batches on weekends and on public holidays

Monitoring and Evaluation

The progress and performance of the Splash project will be evaluated by the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs through a speciallydesigned software and it will be reviewed by a panel of experts at regular intervals,

Grass root Programme in Combat Sports aims at devoloping combat sports like Taekwondo, Boxing and Judo Skills to equipping our children for defense and enabling them to excelin National and International tournaments.

Achievement of Excellence through International Partnership was envisaged as part of the new initiatives taken by the government of Kerala for the development of sports in the State. This will be on the lines of international standards.
The scheme is being successfully implemented by the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs in association with the government of Victoria, Australia. As per the scheme, it will facilitate sharing of knowledge and provide expert assistance to stakeholders for improving the current situation and achieve international excellence in sports.