PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The Sports minister Rekha Arya announced that sports schools would soon be established across the State to nurture youngsters inclined to sports. She directed the department to accelerate the implementation of this concept, allowing children to develop their sports skills from an early age while chairing a review meeting on Monday.
She underscored the importance of specialised sports training for children to transform the State into a sports hub. She said that while there are currently 14 sports hostels, this traditional model is no longer sufficient to meet contemporary needs. “Therefore, these sports hostels should be upgraded to sports schools, where children as young as six years can familiarise themselves with playing on the field,” she stated.
She proposed that a plan be drawn up to outline how the private sector could receive government support to establish these schools. She also urged officials to quickly prepare a proposal for the creation of a sports nursery.
Arya stated that under the “One District, One Sport” initiative, efforts will be made to promote the most popular sport in each district as its defining identity. She instructed the officials concerned to prepare a proposal for this initiative to present to the cabinet soon.
She informed that as of now, over 122,000 athletes of all ages from across the State have registered on the Fit Uttarakhand app and asked the officials concerned to analyse the videos of the sports activities uploaded to the app and to arrange for online coaching. Additionally, the school and college grounds would be utilised as training centres for Agniveer recruitment or open gyms, she said.
During the meeting, the Sports minister also highlighted the need to finalise preparations for the commencement of classes at the Sports University in Haldwani in the month of July.
