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Pune’s Muktangan school dominates inter-school athletics 7th time in a row
The gold and silver medal went to Sarhad School and Abhinava English Medium School respectively
It is all about focussing on the basics, says Vishal Gore, one of the physical education teachers of Muktangan English Medium School, which clinched the inter-school athletics championship title for the seventh time in a row.
Muktangan School dominated the event by winning four gold, one silver and four bronze medals at the Chandrashekhar Agashe College of Physical Education Ground. The second best team was Abhinava English Medium School while Maharashtriya Mandal English Medium School emerged third best school of the event.
“We dedicate our victory to DT Pandit (senior sports teacher of our school) who died on January 30. It was sir who taught us and now we are teaching same to students,” added Gore who was accompanied by two other physical education teachers -- Harshad Moghe and Balraj Shobhane.
The event was conducted in the under-8, under-10 and under-12 categories wherein 799 students from 53 schools participated.
First gold medal for Muktangan School came in the under-12 category (long jump) where Jhanhavi Chorge got the top position with a 4.04 metre jump. “I like sports more than studies and along with long jump, I also took part in the 100-metre running and relay events,” said Chorge, who is a Class 5 student.
In the 4x80 metre relay, Chorge along with Ayusha Waikar, Jidnyasa Pardeshi and Jui Jagdale settled for a bronze medal with a timing of 51.35 seconds. The gold and silver medal went to Sarhad School and Abhinava English Medium School respectively.
“We make sure that every physical training class is conducted properly and along with sports we also take care of nutrition value and diet,” said Moghe, a physical education teacher.
“We training during school hours – 7:30 am to 12:30 pm. There is no pressure on students to give extra time to sports. Whenever a tournament is round the corner, we practice more, but schedule is managed during school hours,” he added.
We could had won overall championship
Sudhakar Memane, the physical training teacher of Abhinava English Medium School, was not a happy man after his school earned the runner-up trophy.
“If we had not missed two medals in the relay, then, we could had defeated Muktangan School in the race for the overall championship. Little things went wrong for us, but overall the students performed well. We hope to win the competition next year,” said Memane.
Abhinava English Medium School clinched two gold, three silver and two bronze medals.
PT teachers: the men behind the game
While the Maharashtriya Mandal hosted the two-day inter-school competition, not many are aware of what goes into making it a successful event.
Spectators looked on and appreciated the work of the physical training teachers of Maharashtriya Mandal as they marked tracks, gave instructions to volunteers and made the long jump venue ready. However, the work of the event begins a month prior to the main event. The preparations are done from scratch so that the athletes do not face any hiccups during the event.
Sachin Pardeshi, a physical training teacher at Maharashtriya Mandal said, “We start the preparations in advance and the work is distributed. From maintaining all the facilities at the ground, to making results and naming the winners all the work is done by us.”
Along with Pardeshi, Hrushikesh Shinde, Harshal Nikam, Rajaram Kamble and Dhananjay Chinchanikar were the other physical training teachers who made this event successful.
Not just that these teachers have to explain the athletes the rules of the sport.
Pardeshi explains, “When an athlete from the u-8 category takes the track for running, he only knows running, but to run straight in his own lane is something that we need to explain. u-8 is a very small age group but it is important to give them exposure and that’s why our institute is keen on this category”.
Harshal Nikam, a physical training teacher said, “Our next aim is to get a synthetic track in place. Our institute has raised this with the district sports department and we hope that young athletes will have a bigger stage next time.” Nikam also thanked physical training teachers from other schools for their support.
When kids take the field at the event
‘Zorat dhav aaplyala zinkaycha aahe’ - run faster we have to win this, screamed a friend of the participant who is an 8-year-old girl from Abhinava English Medium School before the 4x80 metre relay started.
The two-days inter-school athletics event which unfolded at the Maharashtriya Mandal’s Chandrashekhar Agashe College of physical education ground on February 1-2 saw 799 athletes in under-8, 10 and 12 categories competing in running, relay and long jump events respectively.The hustle and bustle of children and sound of the whistle from physical training teacher were going in tandem. Accompanying them were the parents with tiffin boxes.
“You have one more chance next year but Arya Kulkarni (gold medal in under-12 category 100 meters running) will be over age to compete in this category,” explains mother of Arya to Om Sutar who won the silver medal for the same competition.
“Mast dhavla toh aamhala mahit hota toch jinknaar’ – He (Arya) ran nicely we knew he will fetch the gold,” Sutar replied to Arya’s mother.Kids from the under-8 category had followed teachers instructions. Most of them were completely disciplined.
“All the arrangements are really nice. The seating arrangements could have been more near to the ground for a better view and we could be nearer to the kids for any kind of need,” said a parent of an under-8 category kid from PES Modern English Medium School, NCL Pashan
Physical education teachers from all the schools kept running from here and there behind their athletes. For them, it was a mix of emotions as they had to cheer up for a gold winner and also to handle the athlete who was in tears for not winning a medal.
“Such events will help kids to grow. They get an opportunity to perform which is very important at a young age. The event was organised nicely. Along with normal kids, I will like to see such events to be organised for specially abled kids as well,” said Punam Bhavsar, physical education teacher of Army Public School - who won three medals.
