For every achievement in sports by children at Dr. K.K. Nirmala Girls Higher Secondary School in Ashok Nagar, the teachers deserve an appreciative pat. Here is why. After M. Ragavi, a Class VIII student and a promising kabaddi player, had a ligament tear during a zonal tournament, her parents wanted her to give up sports. They stopped sending her for kabbadi practice. One after the other, Ragavi’s teachers called upon her parents, one of them a daily wage labourer and the other employed as a support staff, trying to bring them around to the view that sports can prove to be an opportunity for success for their daughter.
“After many such visits by teachers, Ragavi’s parents relented, allowing her to play kabaddi, which is a big victory for us,” says Loura Humbliena, the physical education teacher at the school for the last nine years.
The Under-14 kabaddi team is just three years old and has already won laurels for the school. Students love the sport but most of them get little encouragement at home. The financial situation at home also discourages many of them to pursue sports as a hobby.
“Kabaddi is a physically demanding contact sport considered rough, especially for girls. And most parents do not want to take the trouble to drop them at school before regular classes start for Kabbadi practice or during weekends when matches are conducted,” says Loura.
