SDP launches its East Delhi Center from 1 Sept 09

The SDP schools programme will soon get underway at the DDA Yamuna Sports Complex (YSC), Delhi.

Also, professional and qualified coaching will be conducted by SDP coaches in the afternoon on Tuesdays and mornings on weekends starting 1 September 2009.

Tuesday - 2.30pm to 4.30pm
Saturday and Sunday - 11am - 1pm

Fee: DDA YSC Members - Rs. 1500/ per month; Non-Members - Rs. 2000/ per month

Seats are limited. Enrolled kids will receive valuable counseling guidance with special emphasis on balancing squash with academic performance and excellence.

Those keen on registering may:

• email to office@squash-northindia.org or
• Download the form here
  

SDP Elite kids are back!!

After the exams the kids are back on-courts at Siri Fort. With the Squash Tournament season getting underway very soon they have a lot to catch up!!

Save Siri Fort Campaign....Press Release

The members of the Siri Fort Sports Complex staged a candlelight vigil, Friday 13 evening, in a show of their opposition to DDA’s break-and-rebuild activities on the plea of preparation for the Commonwealth Games. All of them – a few hundred – sported T-shirts with the message “Save Siri Fort”. They stood peacefully outside the main gate of the complex and then walked in a procession down the road and back, ending up inside. DDA is bent upon redesigning the existing facilities for badminiton, squash, tennis and swimming when only a little renovation is sufficient.

Mr M.L.Lahoty, a senior advocate, explained that DDA was planning a whopping Rs 44 crores on renovation of facilities in the name of the Commonwealth Games although those were not needed for the games. He alleged that DDA was even ignoring requests for disclosure of what its exact plans. Mr Lahoty has already raised questions before the Supreme Court about the propriety of DDA’s reconstruction plans. The next date for the hearing of this case is March 27.

Gautam Bhatia, a well known architect, explained that much good sense was required for planning any big change in the sports complex and its environs including heritage sites. Furthermore these changes should be carried out after consultations with players.

A signature campaign last year succeeded in foiling an earlier attempt by DDA to close down the entire complex for nearly two years from January 2009 and push through undisclosed plan for unnecessary rebuilding of the complex at a huge cost. Lt-Governor Tejendra Khanna took note of the strong feelings of the users of the complex and ordered only those facilities to be closed which might really need renovation.

Save Siri Fort Campaign

Hi everyone,
Thank you all those who could make it at this short notice. This is to let you all know that there were over 300 people collected for the candle light vigil and march at SFSC.

It was peaceful, considerate to those coming in to the complex and an unprecedented success with 2 national tv channels and news paper journalists there. We have succeed in getting attention on the issue of closing down the complex for 2 years and we now wait for the powers that be to make the next move. We should be ready to stop them doing what ever they want to do without telling us ---- the members who are most affected.

We are not against improvement but we should be told prior to an adhoc decision, a decision that involves our lives.

Please keep in touch.
Regards
Bharat

Click here for a slideshow of the event

SRFI Summer Camps 2009

The SRFI is planning to organise 2 summer camps one for the national elite players and the other for beginners at the ICL Squash Academy in Chennai in the last week of April or first week of May for a 12 day period.

The camp will comprise the following:

• Technique development
• Lectures on nutrition, tactics, injury prevention etc
• Fitness Tests
• Video Analysis
• Stabilizer Exercises
• Cross Training (Swimming / Volley Ball)
• Lunch will be provided daily

The fee for the elite camp and beginner camp would be Rs. 6,000 and Rs. 5,000 respectively.

Kindly let me know by March 20, 2009 if your players would be interested in attending the above camp.

Regards

Cyrus Poncha

National Coach

Interested SDP players may send in their names to nikhil@reacha.org

Need to join hands for Squash!!!

Friends...our worst fears are almost coming to fruition!! DDA Siri Fort Squash Courts are being brought down/rebuilt in the name of CWG2010. Thus, they will be shut for all squash lovers for the next 18 months.

We don't mind it if it had the good of Squash or CWG2010 at the heart of it all. As per SRFI 12 new courts being constructed within this complex are enough for the training as well as conduct of the Squash event at CWG2010. So why rebuild the existing 4 courts where lots of kids as well as members have their daily sessions?

Some of our arguments go as follows:

1. Its a waste of the tax payers money...especially when there is NO REQUIREMENT for rebulding the 4 courts complex
2. There is no need to convert these into AC courts....this is bound to put them out of access of a number of Economically Weaker Section (EWS) kids as well as school kids who currently pay a nominal 10/ per day to play Squash in the complex
3. We don't mind the courts being renovated one/two at a time
4. Any change/renovation etc must be NEED BASED & done with foresight
5. Any construction/destruction cannot be justified in the name of CWG2010!!

Team SDP

Prince sponsorship for SDP Elite kids & Coaches

The Prince - SDP Sponsorship was launched at DDA Siri Fort Sports Complex on 17 Feb 09. The chosen 5 kids felt encouraged and resolved to work hard. 5 Coaches of the SDP programme were also given the honors.

This is a 1 year sponsorship with the incentive that if kids do well in State, National & International tournamenmts their kits would be constantly upgraded, besides their travel getting support from Prince.

A slideshow will be uploaded soon showcasing the event.

SDP suspended for Feb - March 09 due to exams

As kids prepare for their final exams, Team SDP wishes them all the very best. Though the coaching will continue in spurts, the real momentum will re-start with the new Academic Session (09-10) from April 09.

We look forward to catching up with you all once again in april 09. In the meantime, the blog would bring to you REACHA's counselling support through hot links with its official site www.reacha.org

SDP 'Q&A' launched

We welcome parents and children to write to us. Check out the right side of the Blog after scrolling down a bit.

Hamdard Delton Open 2009 Draws

SDP kids...............get cracking. TeamSDP wishes you all the very best. Check out your draws here

SDP updates

SDP kids and parents will benefit from weekly video and slide-show updates starting February 09. All uploads will be original SDP works and not hot-links from other sites.

Our Elite Coaches will also be preparing special capsules/drill sequences that will be available to all squash lovers....across the world.

REACHA has decided to host many of its Child Centric Learning By Doing (CCLBD) modules online at this blog so that kids and parents can benefit from its 16 years experience in balancing academics, career explorations, sports development & character building.

With the above SDP hopes to use Squash as a tool for promoting peace, harmony and good-will across nations, races, colour, caste and creed.

The SDP Journey so far............

It all began through a Summer Camp in May-June 08 at the DDA Siri Fort Sports Complex, N Delhi. Over the next 6 months the programme has grown in leaps and bounds. Currently, we have a well structured scheme for squash development with kids.....namely:

• grassroots programme
• intermediate pregramme
• elite programme

3 days a week school kids reach the DDA Siri Fort Sports Complex (SFSC) in the school bus. They spend the next 2 hours with our team of highly qualified & trained coaches lead by Mukhtiar Ali. These kids are about 100 in number....from Classes V to XI. REACHA admin staff take care of entire transport and co-ordination during this process. For DDA SFSC these couple of day hours become full of energy and vibration.

The Intermediate and Elite programmes run 3 days a week from 2pm to 4pm. Here, Gaurav Nandrajog, BI Singh, Ali, Anil & Nikhil pitch in with their respective expertise.

SDP - Grassroots tournament 08

About 100 children from Manava Bharati School, New Delhi took part. The winners were as follows:

Class V & VI (Boys)

1^st Position – Aditya Mittal (VI-A)

2^nd Position – Sahil Sansanwal (VI-B)

3^rd Position – Hardik (V-B) & Karan Berry (VI-C)

Class V & VI (Girls)

1^st Position – Anna Awasthi (VI-B)

2^nd Position – Gurbani Kaur (V-A)

3^rd Position – Priya Sansanwal (V-A)

3^rd Position - Kajal Pathak (VI-B) (Score – N/A)

Class VII and VIII (Common for boys & girls)

1^st Position – Arjun (VIII-A)

2^nd Position – Kartik (VII-A)

3^rd Position – Raghav (VII-B)

Class IX and XI (Boys)

1^st Position – Raghav (XI-B)

2^nd Position – Ahmad (XI-A)

3^rd Position – Rajeev (XI-B)

Class IX and XI (Girls)

1^st Position – Liza Awasthi (XI-B)

2^nd Position – Palvinder Sandhu (XI-C)

3^rd Position – Neelam (XI-C)

All winners were given Squash Rackets and skipping ropes by the School Principal at the school morning Assembly. Prizes were sponsored by SDP.

Ritwik's next Clinic with SDP kids....the first in 2009

SDP kids eagerly await Ritwik's arrival in Delhi....since it means not just playing with their Icon, but having fun game sessions and chatting too.

The first Clinic in 2009 has been tentatively scheduled for end Jan 09. Parents, schools & children will be informed the exact schedule by 25 Jan 09.

SDP Elite Group Programme

The Elite Group trains directly under Ritwik's guidance. It is supported by Gaurav Nandrajog, B I Singh, Mukhtiar Ali, Anil Kumar & Nikhil Pant. These kids belong to some of the top Delhi schools:

• Modern School
• Manava Bharati
• Ahlcon International
• DPS
• Sardar Patel Vidyalaya
• Army Public School

Kids are also being provided inputs by REACHA experts on how to balance sports with academic performance.

Gaurav Nandrajog joins SDP Elite Group of Coaches

Gaurav, the current India No.4 and a member of the Indian Squash Team joined the Elite Group of SDP Coaches from October 2008. He has been helping out our 8-10 Elite kids at the Siri Fort Sports Complex, N Delhi 3-4 times a week.

Ritwik has been instrumental in getting top level PSA squash players to play with our budding Squashers. This process will continue as per Ritwik...with more top level players visiting Delhi agreeing to share their time and talent with the kids.

SDP Coaches acquire ASF Level 1 Certification

SDP sponsored the trip of 2 of its coaches to Kolkata in December 2008 for getting trained by Dilip Tripathy under the aegis of Asian Squash Federation (ASF). Both returned with pass certificates and are now helping other SDP coaches to hone their skills. The 150 odd SDP kids are having a great time picking up on these terrific skills.

SDP facilitates Gaurav Nandrajog's visit for the Welsh Open 09

SDP makes sincere efforts on behalf of merit. Gaurav, one of the most talented squash players from Delhi in recent times gets financial support from SDP well wishers. We wish him all the very best.

Welcome!!

SDP...or Squash Development Programme is a unique sports programme that seeks to popularize the great game of Squash. We shall discuss more as we go along...........!!