By John Gloster
(The author is the Chief Quality Officer of KOOH Sports. He is an Australian sports physiotherapist with 24 years of experience, working with both elite athletes and the general sporting population. He has worked extensively with international cricket for the last 17 years, most notably as physiotherapist to the Indian Cricket Team (2004-2008), Surrey County Cricket in England (1998- 2001), Bangladesh National Team (2001-2004) and Head Physiotherapist for Rajasthan Royals IPL team for 8 years. He is actively involved in the development of grass-root sports and strongly advocates the importance health, fitness and an active lifestyle.)
Having lived in the Indian sub-continent now for 15 years as an Australian Sports 
physiotherapist, I have an intimate understanding of the current health situation in this region and present some strategies to help cope with them. Coming from a background of sports physiotherapy and sports medicine it is natural that health and fitness is high on my agenda for the children of India.
There is no better way to communicate and direct the agenda of health and fitness than through children and getting them to be physically active is the only sure shot path for them to lead a healthy life.
The reality is that we as much as would love our kids to be outdoors as much as possible, we need to utilize the indoor spaces available effectively also for movement, exercise and physical activity to help them get the best outcomes of their formative years (e.g. Dubai in summer or Indian monsoon where school hours = indoor hours)
We need to create the environment in and around the school (and home) to stimulate children to move at every level. Being from a medical background I speak a lot about ‘movement’ and it being integral to life. Movement = Medicine and the new notion of Vitamin “M” for movement
Ken Robinson spoke in his famous TED talk about how “Most Educators feel that learning starts from the shoulders up”. Many see the body as just an instrument to carry their head around! We (myself and KOOH) are here to challenge that.
In India and especially in the Tier 1 (major) cities space is a real issue and school infrastructure in all forms is limited. Mumbai is a city of 22 million people which is equal to the population of Australia. So, acres of lush green fields to our kids to play are nothing short of a dream.
However, there should be no excuse not to provide a child with what we see as a fundamental right i.e. the access to programs that are beneficial for both physical and cognitive well-being (be that financial, infrastructure or otherwise).
2016 Happiness Initiative for the UAE (at a government/ministerial level)
“Happiness Ministry”
- No better way to stimulate happiness than through having happy and healthy kids
- Physical Education and sports and environment exploration plays a big role in this and needs to be focused on
- To be applauded and should be introduced elsewhere.
“Find A Way”: The Shane Warne ‘catch cry’. Warne, the great Australian cricketer with whom I worked with for many years was famous for his saying “Find A Way”. We at KOOH Sports have had to forge this pathway (we have had to “find a way”) and take innovative steps to convince school administrators the benefits of physical activity and sports/physical education but also that space is not, and should never be, a limiting factor.
We must use sport and any physical activity within the environment available to the students (e.g. The Green School in Bali, where kids are encouraged to walk everywhere). Exploring nearby environments or excursions are also a great way for kids to get moving. Finally, we must go back to the basics of movement & exercise. (Read: Donal O’Neill in “Big Fat Fix – The Movie”)
We must bring creativity within the school’s space to run intelligent programmes that allow continuous movement. Our programmes must be altered and it is not too difficult to do so.
In Football, the “Funino method” developed by German expert Horst Wein is one such example of usage of small space to effectively train kids on skill of Football. The programme which trains kids through small sided games such as 2v1, 3v3, etc. and because of the small space and less players, the game is fast paced and allows more ball contact time per player which in turn develops game intelligence, improves muscle memory and promotes automatism.
Reinforced with mandatory intra-class movement activities (e.g. Crawl, isometrics, lifts,
wall pushups, squats, lunges etc.), every piece of the school environment becomes an exercise area (stairs, chairs, etc.). The “Your body is a gymnasium” concept that I use for children and corporates proves that we don’t need any equipment or a large space to become fit, your body is designed to do that job for you if you use it wisely.
Every junior classroom should have a balance beam which kids must use all the time.
Walls make up for great exercise equipment too! Always remember that KIDS DON’T SEE WALLS, they just see fun. Only adults see the walls and limitations/constraints of them. Many isometric exercises just need your body and the wall!
While we all understand space constraints, excellent infrastructure also does exist in Indian cities especially in some of the tier 2 and 3 cities which can be utilized effectively for ‘after school’ activities (not just exclusive to that school but outsourced to providers and other schools). Use what and when can to benefit the child but also make good business case models around this which KOOH Sports has successfully done.
Let’s keep children’s health & fitness at the forefront
Must not let this fall off the agenda in the new high tech world.
The School Is The Engine for Grass Roots Sports & Health
KOOH Sports 