By Chirag Patel
(The author is the Chief Executive Officer of KOOH Sports. He took the first step of attempting to make a social impact by investing and then taking active part in the development of KOOH Sports. With over two decades of international experience in various industries he brings the strategic and execution capability to provide the foundation for scaling up a venture)
Sports which include physical education in its entirety cut across ‘scholastic’ and ‘value’ dimensions. It is often a matter of emphasis at a unit level as to where it fits and therefore it lies on these units to embrace or dispel it. If we tell our academic teachers to integrate sports in education and quite often in simple ways the behavior or outcomes of the kids are bound to change and for the positive. The science of sports can be woven into the fabric of regular subjects and taught to kids to make them aware of the intermingling co-existential nature of sports and their curricular subjects!
When students leave school; the world they enter does not exist in single chunks called subjects. And the activities they participate in or problems they face do not get covered in the 30-40 minute sessions that get imparted during their school lives. The way schools typically fragment knowledge and skills into subjects imparted through a curriculum is not assuredly a good representation of the way world works. In addressing this issue schools can or must implement integrated or inter disciplinary curricula including sports and impart what we call Sports Education. There is abundant opportunity to integrate content of a sports session to other parts of academic curriculum.
Then there is this question of delivery of sports education and training. It can be done in-school; during school and after school hours. The modern sports education also focuses greatly on pathway creation so that broad objectives of sports are accomplished. Sedentary lifestyle followed by kids these days causes sitting disease. Participation in sports can greatly reduce health risks. Sport participation enhances information processing, goal direction learning, flexible thinking, concentration, memory and also improves academic performance and morale. It cuts across the three dimensions of Mind, Body & Soul! Holistic development of kids can only be brought if schools adopt a scientific and innovative approach to physical education & sports.
KOOH Sports 