The New Year comes with good hope for the sports kids as Sportz Village Academies (formerly known as KOOH Sports) continues to resume operations of its multi-sport training centres in India since the initial unlock phase. Currently, 6 centres are operational across Mumbai, Chennai, and Surat while 15 centres across other cities are in pipeline to have kids get back to their sports training routine after a long hiatus.
Sportz Village Academies (SVA) has vetted strict safety measures in addition to adherence to the SOPs & Guidelines formulated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to resume sports in the country. “Apart from all safety measures and social distancing norms, we are ensuring a smaller number of players at a time. We have restricted visitors during academy operational hours. Not using locker rooms, no sharing of equipment, etc are some additional precautions taken strictly by players and coaches” said Jitendra Joshi, Co-Founder, and Head – Sportz Village Academies.
Surat’s Lotus Cricket Academy was the first SVA centre in the city to restart in May 2020 post Unlock 1, followed by football and basketball academies at Hills High in June. In Oct-Nov, SVA restarted Sarita Sagar Sankul Trust Cricket Development Centre in Surat as well as HFS Cricket Development Centre and Don Bosco Basketball Development Centre in Mumbai. The latest addition is the Chennai-based Vaels Sports Development Centre. Till date, over 200 kids have enrolled across SVA centres and are getting trained with over 20 active coaches for different sports like Cricket, Football, Basketball, Skating, and Tennis. Apart from this, 46 kids from SVA also enrolled for Active Club during the lockdown. Sportz Village developed Active Club with an objective to keep kids physically active and nurture their sports journey in the comfort of their own homes – through a unique ‘Phygital’ model – physical activity through digital means.
“We started with just 10 kids in Surat. To ensure a safe return to academies, we released our Academy Safety Guidelines with a video. Quality deliverables with strict safety protocols being followed on-ground have helped us in gaining the trust of kids and parents; and hence the steady growth. No. of inquiries have significantly increased, especially in Dec end and Jan”, said KrishIyengar, Head – Marketing & Technology – Sportz Village.
The New Year is going to see a surge in sports centres as well no. of kids enrolling for sports training. Jitendra said, “There is a pent-up need to come out and play among kids. As most businesses and activities have resumed close to normal, sports players and fans too want to return to the sports normal. We are all ready to welcome back kids who join our centres for multiple reasons – be it fitness, building sports careers, or overall development”
Sportz Village Academies is the Academies arm of Sportz Village. It is focused on initiating interest in sports through grassroots programs and nurturing and promoting talent through best-in-class sports development centres and has trained over 2 lakh kids in the last 5 years in India and UAE.
