Fittgen brings sports curriculum to the forefront

In an effort to ensure that sports play an important part in a child’s life, Holy Sai International School recently introduced a comprehensive fitness programme for students in partnership with Fittgen, a fitness assessment programme.

Speaking about the initiative S. Prem Shankar said, “Cambridge education is a wholesome, holistic education where the curriculum is structurally designed. Everything is included in the curriculum, especially sports.”

Stating that whatever is done, must be measured to get data, he said, “without measuring you won’t get data to see your progress”. In this regard, Fittgen measures the student’s progress in sports and ensures the student’s improvement, he said.

“This concept of fitness for children began six years ago. We realised there is a gap across all boards where there is no set curriculum for sports. There is an outline and no structure,” he said.

Implemented at the Holy Sai International School over the last year and piloted at the Santhome Higher Secondary School, the programme looks at key developmental needs of the children according to their age, criteria from balance, hand-eye coordination to agility and reflex. Presently, its being implemented for students of Classes 3 to 8.

The programme uses simple games to mark students on various criteria which can be accessed by parents and teachers to keep track of their progress in fitness. “Sports bring out a lot of good qualities. Children learn about failure and how to cope with stress. It is completely measured across eight parameters and it’s done at the beginning of the year,” he said.

The coaches are specifically trained for their assessment from the beginning of the year, mid-year and end of the year. “Further, the parents are also involved in their nutrition suiting their needs,” he added. Moving forward, the programme hopes to expand to many schools soon.

(photo by SRR)