Fitness conscious parents are sending children to pools

The winds of change have touched aquatic and adventure sports thanks to parents who want to keep their children fit and healthy.

This summer, they are giving cricket a pass while enrolling their children in swimming, horse riding, trekking and yoga camps.

Swimming camps have generated more interest among children than cricket camps, said Rangappa, a swimming coach at Bowring Institute.

Prabhu Dev KV, president of the club, said most leading city doctors are stressing on physical fitness of children to keep asthma and other pollution-related ailments away.

Major Faiz Siddiqui, international Polo player and secretary of Agram Riding and Polo Academy, said he was happy to note that parents are encouraging their children to take part in swimming, yoga and adventure sport. There is heavy swimmer traffic in the pools. Each pool is accommodating three to four batches every day to meet the growing demand, said Chetan, director of Eagleton.

Dharmender, manger of Amoeba, said leisure sports like bowling too have suffered as children are taking up physically enduring sports and their parents are walking or jogging to keep themselves fit.

Silva Storai, director of the Embassy Riding School and the lone woman jockey to win two Derbys, said: “Kids are having a good time this summer. Cross country on a horse is more fun than batting at the nets in a cricket camp. Many of them are animal lovers and they love the horses.”

“Learning to swim, learning to ride, be it a cycle or a horse, and taking lessons in yoga are more beneficial as they keep you fit mentally and physically,” said Inayath Khan who sends his two children to Jayanagar swimming pool during summer vacations.
Sabrina of Mount Carmel College pursuing a career in modelling feels that swimming and hitting the gym are a must for all models.